In a last-ditch bid to save the coalition government in Karnataka, Congress Friday offered Janata Dal-Secular the "Maharashtra model" power-sharing formula, just before Chief Minister Dharam Singh was to seek a vote of confidence in the assembly with the numbers going against him.
Minutes before Dharam Singh left for the Assembly session, All India Congress Committee general secretary A K Antony said the "Maharashtra formula", under which crucial home and water resources portfolios will be conceded, had been offered to JD-S to save the coalition government and its response was awaited.
"We are willing to agree for the Maharashtra government formula. We have agreed for that to save the government," Antony told reporters after a meeting with the chief minister and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president Mallikarjun Kharge.
According to sources, under the formula as in Maharashtra, Congress will retain chief ministership and allot portfolios of home and water resources to JD-S in exchange for revenue and industries held by the latter.
Meanwhile, significantly, JD-S, which is facing a revolt by Kumaraswamy, is unlikely to issue any whip to its legislators to vote for the motion.
"There is no move to issue a whip," JD-S spokesman Y S V Datta said before the assembly session.
Political observers say this means JD-S will not go the whole hog to save its coalition government with Congress.
Continuing its belligerence, the JD-S rebel group chief Kumaraswamy, who was elected as the faction's legislature party leader after the revolt, issued a whip asking his legislators to vote against the motion.