HD Deve Gowda, the man of the moment, does not want two faces in his son, HD Kumaraswamy's Cabinet. Kumaraswamy will take oath at 4:30 pm tomorrow.


The two leaders are Congress leaders DK Shivkumar and MR Patil because both these men have been strident opponents of Deve Gowda for
over two decades. Gowda has conveyed his reservations to the  
Congress leadership.


Shivakumar, well knowing he is unlikely to be given a ministerial berth in the Kumaraswamy government, has been giving interviews to the media about how he had to swallow a bitter pill (the alliance with the JD-S) for the sake of the greater good of the nation so that secular forces would be in power in Karnataka.


Shivakumar has also mentioned in passing that he should be given the deputy chief minister's portfolio. Dubbed the man of the match, Shivakumar has 25 MLAs with him. Former Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah also has 20-25 MLAs and these 50 MLAs can rock the boat.

The central leadership of the Congress will not be able to control these dissatisfactions in a month's time.  

Rahul Gandhi is believed to be toeing the line set by Deve Gowda in keeping with the promise that the Congress support was unconditional.

Even as we write this, a group of Muslim organisations have said that either their 7-time Congress MLA Roshan Baig or some other leader from the Muslim community be made the Deputy CM in the new government in Karnataka.

Uncharted but certainly turbulent waters for the alliance to navigate.