Bengaluru, (DHNS): With Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy winning the floor test in the Legislative Assembly on Friday, the ministry formation exercise gained momentum as the coalition partners parleyed on the distribution of key portfolios.

Kumaraswamy, his brother-JD(S) leader H D Revanna, former chief minister Siddaramaiah, AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka K C Venugopal and Deputy Chief Minister and KPCC president.

Sources in the JD(S) said the party leaders have sought five key portfolios - Finance, Revenue, Water Resources, PWD and Energy. But Congress leaders did not airm anything in this regard.

Kumaraswamy is also said to have told the Congress delegation that the list of probable JD(S) ministers was ready and that the expansion of the council of ministers could be done on Monday.

On their part, Congress leaders told him that they would discuss with the high command before taking the final decision on the distribution of portfolios and the date of ministry expansion. Congress leaders are unlikely to go to Delhi to meet the party top brass on Saturday.

They may go either on Sunday or after the Rajarajeshwari Nagar constituency poll scheduled on May 28.

H D Revanna, G T Deve Gowda, Basavaraj Horatti, C S Puttaraju, Bandeppa Kashempur, A H Vishwanath are among JD(S) leaders who are tipped to make into the council of ministers. R V Deshpande, Shamnur Shivashankarappa, Ramalinga Reddy, K J George, S R Patil, H K Patil, Priyank Kharge, Laxmi Hebbalkar and Roopa Shashidhar are among the prominent Congress leaders whose names are making rounds. The alliance partners have already decided to share the ministerial berths at a 22: 12 ratio. The council of ministers comprises 34 members, including the chief minister. The plan is to expand the council of ministers sometime next week.

While the Congress wants to strike a balance between old and young leaders, the party is said to be struggling to decide on accommodating Muslims in the council of ministers.

While UT Khader is the only Congress MLA leftin the Dakshina Kannada region, other Muslim leaders such as R Roshan Baig, Rahim Khan, Tanveer Sait and Zameer Ahmed Khan are seeking berths.