GUESSING GAME IN PORTFOLIO TALKS

With just a day to go for the swearing-in ceremony of the next Bharatiya Janata Partyled National Alliance Government, senior leaders of the alliance on Saturday continued their discussions on the distribution of ministerial berths and portfolios at the residences of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president J.P.

- GAURAV VIVEK BHATNAGAR

Nadda. The President has invited Modi and members of his Council of Ministers to take oath at 7-15 p.m. on Sunday.

Over the past two days, NDA leaders including Chandrababu Naidu of TDP, Nitish Kumar of JD(U), Eknath Shinde of Shiv Sena, Chirag Paswan of Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), H.D. Kumaraswamy of JD (S), Pawan Kalyan of Jana Sena, Jayant Chaudhary of RLD and Ajit Pawar of NCP have held meetings with BJP leaders on portfolios.

It is likely that from Bihar, three MPs each of the BJP and JD(U) may be made ministers while LJP (Ram-Vilas) and Hindustan Awam Morcha may get one berth each. Similarly, the smaller parties in the alliance may all be given a berth each.