New Delhi, May 21 (Agencies): JDS leader H.D. Kumaraswamy is said to be against the idea of two deputy chief ministers in the government he is forming in Karnataka with the Congress, which has more members in the legislative assembly.

Sources said the Congress has proposed two deputy chief ministers in order to strike a balance with the Janata Dal Secular, which has fewer seats than it, but the regional party is believed to be not in favour of this proposal.

Kumaraswamy, who will be sworn in as chief minister on Wednesday for the second time in 12 years, had a busy Monday in the national capital, meeting Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, and Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul, the party's president.

With Sonia and Rahul, he discussed the power-sharing arrangement in a situation where no party has the majority of 112 seats required to form a government. 

“There is no bargain. We will cordially work out things. We must work together. I am here to take their (Congress leaders) advice,” said Kumaraswamy when asked by reporters ahead of the meeting how the Congress and the JDS will address the issue of ministry formation.

Kumaraswamy's JDS won 37 seats in the May 12 assembly elections. It had fought the election in an alliance with the BSP, which has won one seat.

The Congress won 78 seats, while the Bharatiya Janata Party got 104. Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee chief G. Parameshwara is among the frontrunners for the deputy chief minister's post.

State BJP chief B.S. Yeddyurappa had staked claim to form a government, but stepped down as chief minister last Saturday without facing a floor test.

During his 20-minute meeting with Sonia and Rahul, Kumaraswamy is understood to have discussed the nitty-gritty of Cabinet formation on the number of ministerial berths the Congress and the JDS would get. The meeting took place at Rahul's Tughlak Lane residence.

“We are going to give a stable government. All these issues are not yet discussed. We have not discussed any future course of action,” he said.

After the meeting, Kumaraswamy told reporters he had invited both Sonia and Rahul for the swearing-in ceremony in Bangalore and they have agreed to come. K.C. Venugopal, the All-India Congress Committee official in charge of Karnataka, was also present at the meeting.

Kumaraswamy is expected to take the floor test within 24 hours after being sworn in. Both Congress and JDS MLAs will remain confined to their hotels till the floor test, according to reports from Bangalore.

Meanwhile, in a development that could leave the Congress red-faced in Karnataka, its lawmaker Shivaram Hebbar dismissed as “fake” an audio clip released by the party to allege that the BJP offered money and ministerial berth to him for cross-voting during the floor test in the Assembly.

The Congress had released three audio tapes in the run-up to the floor test, claiming that the BJP leaders were trying to 'poach' on the party MLAs by offering 'blandishments' so that the Yeddyurappa government is saved.

One of the audio tapes released by the party allegedly had a purported conversation between Hebbar's wife and BJP leaders, who allegedly offered money and ministerial post to woo him to vote for the BJP.

However, in a Facebook post in Kannada, Hebbar questioned the authenticity of the audio clip, saying his wife did not receive any such call.

“This is not my wife's voice and she has not received any such calls. The audio tape is fake. I condemn it,” he wrote.