Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy cleared four more names for board appointments. He had on Sunday cleared a list of 14 persons to be appointed as chairpersons to boards and corporations as per a list given by the Congress. According to reports, several members of the Congress party were not content with the appointments, and several showed resentment over the CM’s choices. Following this, on Wednesday, the chief minister appointed four Congress legislators for posts which had yet to be filled.
Easing tensions to some extent, Kumaraswamy’s new appointees are reportedly thought to pacify Congress members who are upset with the coalition head’s previous decisions.
NA Haris, MLA of Shantinagar, has been appointed the chairman of the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), ST Somashekar, MLA from Yeshwanthpur, has been made the chairman of the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA). The other two appointed members are SN Subba Reddy, Bagepalli MLA, as chairman of Karnataka Silk Industries Corporation, and Abbaya Prasad, the Hubballi-Dharwad West MLA as the head of the Dr Babu Jagjivan Ram Leather Industries Development Corporation.
It has also been reported that the CM has yet to decide on an appointee for the position of chairman of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, though the Congress wanted the title to go to Chikaballapur MLA K Sudhakar. Along with him, Doddaballapur MLA Venkataramanaiah, too was not allocated a post.
“The party high command has cleared my name and it is now up to the Congress to give me the post,” Sudhakar told The Hindu.
Earlier on Sunday, the Chief Minister had cleared 14 names out of a list of 19 total, given by the Congress, who would now hold cabinet-rank positions in the coalition government.