Im not an expert with Python and developing using PyQT, but in QT there was this widget attribute(WA_QMaemo5DesktopApplet) that was available for a brief while and that had worked. This could have probably been used to set your widget as a destkop applet in python. But this has been removed, check my post here. Maybe you could still try using the HD_TYPE_HOME_PLUGIN_ITEM atom ive mentioned in the post. Thats what I had to revert to.