BMTC gets new chief as Siddaramaiah drops 7 names from Congress high command's list

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has dropped seven names out of 39 proposed by the Congress high command as chairpersons of various boards and corporations.

Earlier this week, the Congress finalised the names of 39 party leaders as chairpersons of boards and corporations.

From this list, Siddaramaiah has dropped Neelkant Mulge (KKRTC), Syed Mehmood Chisty (Pulses Development Corporation), BS Kavalagi (Lime Development Board), Anjanappa (Seeds Development Corporation), Sharanappa Saladpur (Agricultural Produce Processing & Export Board), RS Sathyanarayana (Temperance Board) and Anilkumar Jamadar (Tur Dal Development Corporation).

Siddaramaiah has given positions to two Congress leaders who were not in the high command’s list: Niketh Raj Maurya as BMTC chairperson and HD Ganesh as Mysuru Paints & Varnish Ltd chairperson.

Meanwhile, Chief Secretary Shalini Rajneesh has asked the concerned departments to issue orders appointing the remaining 32 persons as chairpersons of various boards and corporations. This includes Dharwad MLA Vinay Kulkarni's wife Shivleela replacing him as chairperson at Karnataka Urban Water Supply & Sewerage Board, former MLC K Harish Kumar (Mescom), former MLA N Sampangi (Warehousing Corporation) and party general secretary Lavanya Ballal Jain (Seed & Organic Certification Agency).

The Congress’ list created confusion as Afzalpur MLA MY Patil’s son Arun Patil was named as chairperson of NWKRTC, a position held by senior MLA Raju Kage. Siddaramaiah pacified Kage that there was a “printing mistake”. Arun has been given KKRTC instead of Mulge, who was picked by the party.

Siddaramaiah has also appointed 10 Congress leaders as vice-chairpersons of various bodies: Saundatti MLA Vishwas Vasant Vaidya (Sri Renuka Yellamma Temple Development Authority), Rajya MP GC Chandrashekhar (National Military Memorial Management Trust), Pyarejan (Compost Development Corporation), Sunil Hanumannanavar (NWKRTC), SV Thambidorai (Forest Industries Corporation), VS Aradhya (BMTC), Aiyshwarya Mahadev (KRDCL), Arun Machaiah (Sports Authority), H Lakshman (Minerals Corporation) and Vijayalakshmi (KSSIDC).