The coveted finance portfolio of the newly formed Congress-JDS alliance is likely to be retained by chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, while Home is likely to go to the Congress, according to sources.
The two alliance partners have been in talks for several days on dividing the various portfolios between themselves.
It has already been agreed that there will be 34 ministers — the maximum allowed — out of which 22 will be from the Congress Party and the remaining from Janata Dal Secular.
Besides finance, the JDS is also likely to keep the public works department, yet another ‘money spinner’ ministry.
The ministry is likely to be given to HD Revanna, Kumaraswamy’s brother.
Meanwhile, the Congress is likely to end up with key portfolios like Power, Water, Rural Development, Agriculture, Urban Development and Panchayati Raj.
It is likely that the ministry — currently comprising just the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara — will be expanded in two steps, with the first one seeing around 10 ministers onboarded.
The news of the breakthrough in talks comes even as the Congress retained its seat in Rajarajeshwari Nagar, where elections were postponed after a stash of fake voter cards were discovered during campaign period.