Housing and District in-charge Minister Ambarish is miffed as none of his followers — especially Amaravathi Chandrasekhar — have been nominated to any board or corporation in the first list published by the State government.
Adding insult to injury, former chief minister S M Krishna’s nephew and former Zilla Panchayat president S Gurucharan has been appointed as the chairman of Mysore Electrical Industries Limited. Besides, former MLA Mallajamma has been nominated as the chairperson of Dr B R Ambedkar SC/ST Development Corporation, while working president of Mandya district Congress committee P M Somasekhar has been made the chairman of Karnataka Sports Authority.
Sources said, the name of Dadadepura Shivanna from Malavalli, an ardent supporter of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, was in the list, but it had to be dropped at the last moment due to political compulsions.
Malajamma was an aspirant for the Congress ticket to contest from Malavalli SC reserved Assembly constituency. She has been considered to fill the women’s quota also, sources said.
Gurucharan is the son of former MLC S M Shankar. S M Krishna might have put a word in Gurucharan’s favour. But, there are rumours that Somasekhar’s appointment is due to his own efforts as he was neither supported by Krishna nor Ambarish. A kabaddi player, Somasekhar has served as the president of Karnataka Kabaddi Association and also vice-president of Karnataka Olympic Association. He was also the chairman of Mandya Urban Development Authority under the then Janata Dal government.
Mediator
It can be recalled that Somasekhar acted as a bridge between the Ambarish faction and S M Krishna faction in the district Congress committee during the MP election and was appointed as the committee’s working president.
The district in-charge minister’s supporters, who had been openly lobbying for the nominations, transported their respective supporters to the residence of Ambarish, at Bengaluru, immediately after learning that their names did not figure in the list, to register their protest. Prominent among them are industrialist Amaravathi Chandrasekhar, Mandya City Municipal Council president B Siddaraju and Ambarish Fans Club president Belur Somasekhar.
Last week, when Ambarish made a rare appearance in the city, he expressed his dissatisfaction over the process of nominations. He said, he had been an MP for three terms, Union minister once and now held a responsible post in the State Cabinet, so he should be consulted before making the appointments.
However, Ambarish’s supporters are still hopeful as the second list is yet to be announced.
As nominations have to be made for Mandya-based Mysore Sugar Company and Mandya Urban Development Authority, they are further exerting pressure on their leader.
DH News Service
