BANGALORE: Already dubbed "Deputy Chief Minister-in-waiting," Bharatiya Janata Party leader B.S Yediyurappa remains unfazed by the fast-changing political drama witnessed in the State.

Mr. Yediyurappa told The Hindu on Monday that he expects Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh to resign by Tuesday and the Janata Dal (Secular)-BJP coalition will be invited to form the government soon after.

The 18 BJP Ministers and 16 Janata Dal (Secular) Ministers would be sworn in by January 28.

The BJP will take over the portfolios held currently by the Janata Dal (Secular) Ministers, while the Janata Dal (Secular) will get the portfolios of the Congress Ministers. Only H.D. Revanna will retain his Energy and Public Works portfolio, he said.

The BJP will be an ideal coalition partner, and the new Common Minimum Programme will see how different the new coalition will be from the "outgoing" Dharam Singh-led coalition, Mr. Yediyurappa said.

"Our model will be the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He elegantly managed a coalition of 24 partners for six years. I am sure a partnership of two parties will be easy," he said. That, however, rests totally on how open the two partners are with each other, and the existence of a constant dialogue.

In the new dispensation, agriculture, irrigation and rural development will return as top priority on the Government's agenda.

But that is not to say information technology and biotechnology will be neglected, he hastened to clarify. Reminded that the BJP as an Opposition has never demonstrated a wish to engage with the IT-BT or the industry sector, and its techno-savvy face has rarely been visible, Mr. Yediyurappa said: "The sector expects the Government to provide good roads and infrastructure that will ensure the smooth functioning of the industry which has brought name and fame to Karnataka."

On the ongoing efforts of the Congress to regain the lost ground with Janata Dal (Secular) President H.D. Deve Gowda, he said: "Let them try."

As for the meeting of H.D. Kumaraswamy, who has caused the present crisis, with Mr. Gowda, he said: "It is an attempt to persuade him to change his mind, about going with the Bharaitya Janata Party."

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