Even as tension continues to simmer between the Karnataka government’s ruling coalition of JD(S) and Congress regarding the appointment of chairpersons to boards and corporations, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy partially cleared a list of names given by the Congress for the posts. On Sunday, the Chief Minister cleared 14 names out of the list of 19 names given by the Congress. These 14 members will hold cabinet-rank positions.
Furthermore, the Chief Minister also cleared eight names out of nine, to be appointed as parliamentary secretaries. They will be given the rank of Minister of State. Some of the new appointees for Chairperson include BK Sangameshwar for Rural Infrastructure Development, Laxmi Hebbalkar for Mysore Minerals, R Narendra for Food and Civil Supplies, B Narayan Rao for Forest Development Corporation, Yashwanthraygoud V Patil for Urban Water Supply and Drainage, BA Basavraj for Soaps and Detergents, B Shivanna for Keonics, BS Suresh for KSSIDC and Munirathna for Skill Development Corporation.
According to reports, the appointments have been done to ease rising tension between senior Congress legislators who did not procure a position in Kumaraswamy’s cabinet. However, this has now allegedly led to some MLAs refusing to take up the roles while others are demanding better positions. As a result, the coveted positions of Bangalore Development Authority, Karnataka State Pollution Control Board and BMTC have yet to be given appointments.
The list released by Kumaraswamy’s office has not mentioned MA Gopalaswamy, who has been left out from the list of parliamentary secretaries.
Leaders from the JD(S) had reportedly been upset with the Congress’s decision to publicly announce the list without having consulted them. The JD(S) had also expressed its disappointment with the Congress’ decision to nominate chairpersons for boards coming under the JD(S)’s Ministries.