Process for appointments to boards, corporations to begin on Tuesday

After dragging his feet over appointing chairpersons to boards and corporations, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah now finds himself in a tight spot as he has to begin the exercise to meet the aspirations of those waiting for the positions.The process will begin on September 15.

Siddaramaiah told reporters on Saturday that he would hold a meeting with State Congress president G Parameshwara on Monday and the whole day would be dedicated to only making preparations for shortlisting party leaders and workers for around 100 posts.

It is said that during the chief minister’s recent visit to Delhi, AICC president Sonia Gandhi had suggested to him to immediately look into the demands of the party workers by filling the posts in boards/corporations.

Guidelines to be drawn
To avoid controversies and discontent, the party has decided to draw guidelines to make the selections. As many as 6,000 applications have been received by the Congress office seeking positions in government bodies. It is not just the board/corporation chiefs have to be appointed, even members have be to selected. In addition, appointments to town panchayat authority across the State have to be made. The party MLAs have been asked to send a list of 10 party workers for appointment to panchayat authorities.

For the boards/corporations, the shortlisting of names has to be made by the district Congress presidents. Siddarmaiah did buy more than one year to make large-scale appointments because he is well aware that political appointments do leave many disheartened as there are too many aspirants. But a section of the party workers is squarely blaming the chief minister for not filling the posts. The process of appointments may conclude this month, it is said.

Siddaramaiah, replying to questions from the media, said he was not keen on reshuffling the portfolios of the ministers at this point in time.

However, Parameshwara is for it. “In an interview to a newspaper, Parameshwara is quoted as saying that he wants certain ministers to be dropped from the Cabinet. However, he has not named anyone. Anyhow, we will be meeting on Monday to discuss the issue,” he said.

Sources close to him said Siddaramaiah would not go for the council of ministry expansion or reshuffle till his government completes at least two years in office. He is avoiding any possible rebellion by making changes in the existing system, it is said. However, finally he would have to take up both – reshuffle and expansion – as he too is convinced some ministers were not efficient, it is said.

There were rumours that Siddaramaiah has written to Sonia asking her permission to remove at least 14 ministers. However, the chief minister’s office dismissed it as baseless. The chief minister personally met Sonia in Delhi recently and explained to her the political situation in the State. So, the question of sending a letter to her did not arise, sources said.