Lokayukta: Govt sets ball rolling

The State government on Tuesday began the process to appoint a new Lokayukta by dispatching letters to Opposition leaders in the Legislative Assembly and Council, presiding officers of the two Houses and Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court, required as part of the consultation process.

“Letters will go today itself. Once the reply is received, it will be decided on what needs to be done,” Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda told reporters on Tuesday. The post of the Lokayukta has been vacant for five months now. While Justice Shivaraj Patil quit in September within six weeks of assuming office, the Governor had refused to accept Justice S R Bannurmath for the post.

To a query if the controversies surrounding the appointments to Lokayukta and Upa Lokayukta had dented the image of the State government, the chief minister said it is for the media and people to judge.

Core committee

Earlier in the day, the BJP Core Committee members met briefly to discuss the Lokayukta appointment, porngate episode in the Assembly and other issues at the chief minister’s official residence in Bangalore.

Speaking to reporters, BJP State president K S Eshwarappa said the two-day ‘chintana-manthana’ baithak, a session of legislators and ministers in Bangalore will be held as scheduled from February 24. While the party had decided to discuss administrative issues and constituency-related problems at the two-day session, lessons on discipline and morality are also likely to be included in the wake of the porngate episode.

After the porngate episode, which resulted in Lakshman Savadi, C C Patil and Krishna Palemar quitting from the State Cabinet, the BJP had decided to postpone its zonal convention planned in Bijapur and Belgaum.