New Delhi: The Congress-DMK tussle over the portfolios has affected the swearing-in of Manmohan Singh's second government. Now, a small Cabinet will be sworn in on Friday evening. Sources told NDTV that DMK MPs will attend the ceremony.
A list of 19 ministers to join the Manmohan Singh's Cabinet has been sent to President Pratibha Patil. Only Cabinet rank ministers will be sworn in this evening.
The list includes the following names: Pranab Mukherjee, Mamata Banerjee, P Chidambaram, SM Krishna, Sharad Pawar, Kamal Nath, Kapil Sibal, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Veerappa Moily, C P Joshi, Jaipal Reddy, Meira Kumar, Anand Sharma, Ambika Soni and B K Handique.
Pawar and Mamata are the only allies to be sworn in on Friday. The next swearing-in ceremony shall take place in 2-3 days.
H R Bhardwaj and Arjun Singh have been left out of the swearing-in. Salman Khurshid, Farooq Abdullah, Jairam Ramesh, Scindia, Jitin Prasada are likely to be sworn in on Tuesday.
Earlier, the Congress and DMK failed to break the deadlock over portfolios. The Congress's standing firm, not giving in to DMK pressure meant that a miffed M Karunanidhi flew back to Chennai on Friday morning.
Congress sources say that only 3 Cabinet berths have been earmarked for the DMK. The DMK has been offered IT, Telecom, Labour and Chemicals and Fertilisers. They say the Surface Transport portfolio can't be given to DMK. They add that there is no preference for individuals and it is up to the DMK to make a choice.
Sources said the Congress was firm on not being blackmailed. The party couldn't apply different rules for DMK, they added.
One of the stumbling blocks is that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is not keen on T R Baalu and A Raja. The Congress had offered IT, Telecom, Chemicals & Fertilizer and Labour portfolios.
Now, they will be kept with the Prime Minister for the time being.
On Thursday evening, Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi called DMK chief M Karunanidhi to stop him leaving Delhi in a huff with his MPs ahead of the swearing in.
The DMK had decided to support the UPA government from outside after the Congress refused to accept its demand for nine ministerial berths including plum Cabinet posts like Railways, Telecom & IT, Power, Surface Transport and Health.
The DMK's 18 MPs constitute the third largest constituent in the UPA coalition.
"The Congress formula is not acceptable to us", DMK leader T R Baalu told reporters after talks between the two sides.
Baalu announced the breakdown of talks after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called up DMK chief M Karunanidhi who conveyed his rejection of the Congress proposal.
How ever Congress has said that everything is still a part of the discussion process and nothing untoward is going to happen.
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