PM-Patil morning meeting deferred, allies bargaining hard

NEW DELHI: A meeting slated this morning between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pratibha Patil on government
formation was deferred apparently because the list of the Council of Ministers was yet to be finalised.

Singh, who was scheduled to meet the President at 10.30 am, is expected to do so later in the day.

Some of the UPA allies are bargaining hard for more berths in the Council of Ministers.

The Congress is under pressure from its ally DMK which is seeking nine ministerial berths and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee insisting on getting one more ministerial portfolio than what the DMK gets. While the DMK has won 18 Lok Sabha seats, TMC has got 19.

The Prime Minister and his Council of Ministers will be sworn in at Rashtrapati Bhavan tomorrow evening.

Singh was appointed Prime Minister yesterday for a second consecutive term after the UPA coalition staked its claim to form the government with the backing of 322 MPs.

In view of the comfortable numbers the coalition has in the 543-member Lok Sabha, the President has not asked the Prime Minister to prove his strength in the House. Parliament is likely to be convened on June two.