Bangalore: The top State leaders of the Janata Dal (Secular) and the Bharatiya Janata Party are now in the midst of an exercise to pacify partymen with trouble brewing in the aftermath of the Ministry expansion. The second round of Ministry expansion is expected shortly and that will be followed by the appointment of chairmen of boards and corporations.

A large number of legislators of both the parties are unhappy about not being accommodated in the Ministry, and some of those who have become Ministers are unhappy with the portfolio allotted to them. As one Minister in the JD(S) camp and another in the BJP put it, they have worked hard to climb the ladder but have yet not been able to make the grade. A lightweight portfolio will not help them reach out to the people, they said.

Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, who was closeted with partymen on Saturday evening, apparently in an exercise to mollify them, told The Hindu , "There is no problem in the JD(S) relating to Ministry expansion and allocation of portfolios.

It should be remembered that Ministry expansion is a very difficult exercise, more so, since all legislators aspire to get into the Ministry whether they are first-time legislators or have been elected to the House several times."

Mr. Kumaraswamy has begun preparing a list of legislators to be appointed as chairmen of the large number of government boards and corporations. Most of these appointees will enjoy the rank of Minister of State with the perquisites and privileges available to ministers, he pointed out.

The chairmen will be appointed "very shortly" in two phases, the Chief Minister said. In the first phase, nearly 15 JD(S) legislators will be appointed. The list of BJP legislators to be appointed chairmen will be submitted by that party.

The two coalition partners have decided to equally share the appointments to nearly 65 boards and corporations.

Mr. Kumaraswamy said he does not want to spend his time in Ministry expansion and appointment of chairmen. Instead he would prefer to devote his attention to various developmental activities. "We will complete this exercise at the earliest. The second phase of Ministry expansion will also be gone through very shortly," he said.

The JD(S) and the BJP will add six more members each to the Ministry to make up the full complement of 34 ministers. Now there are 22 ministers: 10 from the JD(S) and 12 from the BJP, including the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa.

The Chief Minister has retained 13 portfolios, including the weighty departments of Home, Cooperation, Public Works, Energy, Information Technology and Biotechnology, Mines and Geology and Urban Development. It has been a practice among successive chief ministers to retain control over the Home Department and Bangalore city development.

Among the JD(S) ministers, weighty portfolios have been given to N. Cheluvaraya Swamy (Transport), Basavaraj Horatti (Primary and Secondary Education), and C. Chennigappa (Forest).

In the case of the BJP, the distribution of portfolios has more or less been equitable barring that of the senior member Ramachandra Gowda who has been given Planning, Small Savings and Science and Technology.

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