DMK thinks they are Chennai Super Kings

With the swearing-in of PM and his Council of Ministers scheduled for 6.30 pm on Friday,the Congress is working overtime after allies bargained hard for ministerial berths and the DMK,mounting pressure.

With the swearing-in of the Prime Minister and his Council of Ministers scheduled for 6.30 pm on Friday at Rashtrapati Bhavan,the Congress worked overtime on Thursday after allies bargained hard for ministerial berths and the DMK,mounting pressure,declared it had decided to stay out of the government and lend outside support.

The formula by the Congress is not acceptable to the DMK,Honourable Prime Minister has discussed with DMK chief Karunanidhi. At the end,my leader Karunanidhi advised me to inform that DMK will support from outside, party leader T R Baalu told reporters. Incidentally,the Congress is not keen to have Baalu and A Raja back in the Cabinet.

Despite the DMK announcement,Congress leaders indicated that negotiations would resume. While the DMK was pressing for eight berths (four Cabinet Ministers and four Ministers of State),the Congress was said to be offering six berths (three Cabinet,three MoS). Even if it were to settle for six berths,the DMK was adamant on four Cabinet posts.

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Karunanidhi was said to be on the phone with Pranab Mukherjee and Ahmed Patel for much of the evening,seeking Cabinet berths for son Azhagiri,daughter Kanimozhi,grand nephew Dayanidhi Maran and Baalu.

The Trinamool Congress,which with 19 MPs (one more than DMK) is the second largest constituent of the UPA,was said to be seeking six berths (one Cabinet,five MoS). TMC sources said Mamata Banerjee has set her eyes on the next Assembly elections in West Bengal and believes if her MPs are made MoS,they will find time to help prepare for the state polls.

Congress negotiators are also grappling with another problem both DMK and TMC are eyeing the Railways and key infrastructure ministries.

The Congress top brass is not inclined to disturb the existing arrangement on key portfolios:

 A K Antony is set to retain Defence.

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 Pranab Mukherjee and P Chidambaram are likely to be given Finance and Home respectively though a final call is yet to be taken by the PM and Sonia Gandhi.

 No decision yet on who will be External Affairs Minister,many names are doing the rounds.

 Speculation is rife on change of portfolios for Kamal Nath and Kapil Sibal.

 National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah is likely to be inducted into the Cabinet and is tipped to get Health.

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 Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel are likely to continue in the Ministries they headed in the last government Agriculture and Civil Aviation. The Congress and NCP have agreed to continue with the formula of one Cabinet berth,one MoS and one MoS with Independent charge.

 P A Sangmas daughter and NCP MP Agatha Sangma may become MoS.

 Veerappa Moily and Salman Khursheed are likely to be inducted.

 Other names being mentioned include Vilasrao Deshmukh,S M Krishna and Ghulam Nabi Azad.

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 Sushil Kumar Shinde is said to be in the running for the post of Lok Sabha Speaker.

 The PM is learnt to have undertaken an exercise to rejig ministries. There will be a separate Ministry of Industry as against the existing Commerce and Industry arrangement.

 The PMO has worked out a formula which says there should be 39 pairs (one Cabinet and one MoS) since there are 39 ministries.

 Given the 272 majority number,which divided by 39 equals almost 7,the formula worked out is this: for every seven seats,an ally gets one Cabinet berth and one MoS. But the allies want more.