Following uneasiness among the Congress party cadre and legislators over the delay in the appointment of heads to various government-owned boards and corporations, AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala held a meeting with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and KPCC president and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Tuesday at the party office here.
Sources in the party said it was proposed to issue orders soon on appointing 25 MLAs and five MLCs as chairman/persons of the boards and corporations in the first phase.
The Chief Minister has maintained that legislators would be given first preference now and appointed as heads of boards and corporations, while Mr. Shivakumar was keen on issuing appointment orders to party workers and leaders. Two leaders have given a separate list of candidates for appointments, sources said.
It was proposed to appoint party workers as members and heads of government bodies after the next year’s general elections.
The Congress government came to power about six months ago but has not yet made appointments to 80-odd boards and corporations. Many legislators and party leaders have expressed their disappointment in the delay in the appointments.
Mr. Surjewala, who is in-charge of polls in Madhya Pradesh, after talks with leaders on November 1, had said another 4-5 rounds of talks would be held on appointment of legislators and party workers to boards/corporations.
During the meeting on Tuesday, the leaders also discussed a list of Lok Sabha candidates submitted by ministers. The KPCC chief appointed Ministers as observers in each Lok Sabha constituency for identifying potential winnable candidates in the next year’s general elections.
