Kumaraswamy eyes agriculture portfolio in new NDA govt

Janata Dal-Secular leader and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Wednesday hinted that his party was interested in the agriculture portfolio in the new National Democratic Alliance government.

JD-S, headed by his father and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, joined the NDA last year.

The Bharatiya Janata Party and JD-S fought the Lok Sabha elections together in Karnataka, which has a total of 28 seats. BJP won 17 seats and JD-S two.

Asked about JD-S' 'demands' ahead of government formation, he said: "We don't have any such demand. Our priority is resolution of issues concerning Karnataka that have been there for long from the Centre. About giving representation (Cabinet berth) to Karnataka at the Centre, Narendra Modi will decide."

On his Ministerial aspirations, Kumaraswamy said the NDA leadership will decide.

"Let's speak about it when the time comes. Delhi leaders know what is the appropriate decision that needs to be taken for the situation there (in Karnataka). They will decide," he said.

Regarding speculation in some quarters that he will be the Agriculture Minister, with similar desire being expressed by several other JD-S leaders, he acknowledged that his party's interest is in the Agriculture department, "Let's see what decisions will happen."

"Our party's interest is in the Agriculture department. Our fight since the beginning has been towards doing good for the farming community," Kumaraswamy, who arrived in New Delhi to attend today's NDA meeting, told reporters.

Earlier during campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections also, Kumaraswamy, who on Tuesday won the Mandya seat with a massive margin, had made no secret of his interest in holding the Agriculture portfolio in the event of the NDA returning to power at the Centre.

According to the final results for Lok Sabha polls declared, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is poised to form the government for a third consecutive term with the BJP-led NDA getting a majority in the Lok Sabha.

The BJP won 240 seats, falling short of the 272 majority mark and needing the support of allies in the party-led NDA for government formation, a far cry from the 303 and 282 seats it had won in 2019 and 2014, respectively, to have a majority on its own.