Coalition to begin appointments to Boards and Corporations

Under pressure from discontented party legislators, Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy yesterday set in motion the process of finalizing appointments to the various state-run Boards and Corporations.

A day after the legislators gave the Chief Minister a piece of their mind at the JD (S) Legislature Party meeting convened in the wake of simmering discontentment in the party, Kumaraswamy assured to begin the process of making appointments to the posts of President, Vice President and members of various Boards and Corporations.

He said he would hold a meeting with senior BJP leaders, including Deputy Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, later in the day and finalise the list of appointees soon. Under the power-sharing agreement, coalition partners JD (S) and BJP are expected to share the posts in Boards and Corporations.

The posts in Boards and Corporations have been lying vacant for more than two years now for various reasons. The disgruntled party legislators brought pressure on the Chief Minister during Thursday’s marathon meeting of the JD (S) Legislature Party to complete the long-delayed appointments to the Boards and Corporations in the State, besides filling up the two ministerial berths kept vacant by the party.

Though six party legislators kept away from Thursday’s meeting, Kumaraswamy claimed that there is no dissidence in the JD (S). He termed as “mischievous and malicious” the reports of a revolt brewing in the party against his style of functioning.

“I hold the reins of the party and the Government. There is no dissatisfaction in the party”, he told reporters after the meeting, which concluded on Thursday evening. “We are united. There are some elements, who are trying to divide us. But they will not succeed”, Kumaraswamy said.

Though 44 out of the total 50 JD (S) MLAs in Karnataka attended the legislature party meeting on Thursday, the absence of his trusted lieutenants Zameer Ahmed Khan and Santhosh Lad raised several eye-brows and lent credence to the reports that the two had turned hostile to the Chief Minister.

Ironically, it was Santosh Lad, a party MLA and mine-owner from Bellary district, who had financed the entire “coup d’etat”, in January this year, which toppled the Congress-JD (S) coalition, catapulting Kumaraswamy to the chief ministerial gaddi.

Also, Zameer Ahmed Khan, who is the Ministery for Wakf and Minorities, is reckoned to the Chief Minister’s blue-eyed boy. A transport operator Zameer Ahmed Khan had played a key role in mobilizing the legislators during the coup and was even at the wheels of the luxury coach that carried the legislators to Goa. Zameer Ahmed Khan is reported to be upset with the interference of the family members of Kumaraswamy in the administrative matters.