The coordination committee comprising members from the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) in Karnataka on Thursday announced the formation of a panel that will frame a Common Minimum Programme, which includes promises from both their election manifestos.

Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who is the chairperson of the panel, said it will have three members from the Congress and two from the Janata Dal (Secular), PTI reported. The drafting panel has been asked to submit a programme which includes salient features from the manifestos of both parties within 10 days.

“Congress party during the election announced a manifesto for five years,” Siddaramaiah told reporters. “Similarly Janata Dal (Secular) had also placed its manifesto before the people. As this is a coalition government, it is practically difficult to implement both. So we decided to constitute a drafting panel.”

The coordination committee comprises Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, Deputy Chief Minister and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee chief G Parameshwara, Congress General Secretary Venugopal and Janata Dal (Secular) Secretary General Danish Ali.

The committee also decided to make appointments to boards and corporations. It decided that the coalition government will continue all major popular programmes launched by the earlier Congress government.

Siddaramaiah said the drafting panel would also decide on the farm loan waiver.

Coalition government

Following the Assembly election in mid-May, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s BS Yeddyurappa was initially sworn in as the chief minister but resigned two days later as his party, despite being the largest, did not have the numbers to prove its majority. The Congress and the JD(S) forged a post-poll alliance to form the government, and JD(S) Karnataka chief HD Kumaraswamy took oath as the chief minister on May 23.