CM to meet Sonia today on board appointments, demolition drive

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president G Parameshwara, who arrived here on Friday to meet the party top brass to finalise appointments to boards and corporations, are in two minds on considering sitting legislators for the posts. 

Legislators who failed to get ministerial berths have been lobbying for chairmanship of important boards and corporations. Though the high command had previously asked state leaders to fill the posts with loyal party workers instead of sitting MLAs, the chief minister and the KPCC president remain under pressure to do the opposite. With less than two years to go for Assembly polls in Karnataka, state leaders are treading cautiously on the appointments, lest they put the MLAs off. “The party will discuss and decide whether to appoint sitting legislators or not,” Parameshwara told reporters here. 

In the evening, Parameshwara and Siddaramaiah met Congress party general secretary in charge of Karnataka, Digvijaya Singh, to finalise the list. The three are expected to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday to get approval for the list. 

A source said the meeting would also discuss issues such as the demolition drive in Bengaluru, the sedition case against Amnesty International India, the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu and the suicide of several police officers. 

Speaking to reporters earlier, the chief minister said the appointments would be finalised on Saturday. On the Cauvery issue, he said Karnataka was waiting for the Supreme Court verdict on Monday.