CM Siddaramaiah changes BMTC chief after furore in Congress

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah appointed Monday senior Congress functionary VS Aradhya as chairperson of the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), three days after a junior party spokesperson Niketh Raj Maurya was given this post.

On September 26, Niketh took charge as the BMTC chairperson after Siddaramaiah picked him for the post. Aradhya was made vice-chairperson of the transport utility.

Sources in the party said this "erroneous" decision triggered disgruntlement among the party's cadre.

"Aradhya has been associated with Congress for 42 years. Niketh joined the party only a few years ago. It was unacceptable that Aradhya was made vice-chairperson under Niketh. This decision caused discontent among the party," a senior Congress leader said.

The Congress high command had to intervene, resulting in Siddaramaiah ordering the appointment of Aradhya as the BMTC chairperson. Aradhya, currently a vice-president of the Karnataka Congress, started off as the NSUI Binnypet block president in 1983.

Last week, Siddaramaiah had excluded seven Congress functionaries who were picked by the Congress as chairpersons of various boards and corporations.

On Monday, Siddaramaiah gave new positions to six of them: Syed Mehmood Chisty (Pulses Development Corporation), Sharanappa Saladpur (Temperance Board), BS Kavalagi (Lime Development Board), Anjanappa (Seeds Corporation), Neelkant Mulge (Spices Development Board) and Anilkumar Jamadar (vice-president, Jawahar Bal Bhavan). The CM has not given any position to RS Sathyanarayana, who was in the Congress' list as head of the temperance board.