BENGALURU: Six months after the Karnataka elections, there is intense pressure on the state party leadership to make appointments to Boards and Corporations, which are pending.
AICC General Secretary Randeep Surjewala, who was in charge of Madhya Pradesh which voted on November 17, flew into Bengaluru and held lengthy meetings with party colleagues on this issue.
He held a meeting with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and party president DK Shivakumar, who are said to have their own lists of followers and supporters to be appointed to Boards and Corporations.
There are over 30 prized boards and there are about 60 boards and corporations which are not so sought after. CM Siddaramaiah told the media that they are likely to make an announcement immediately. He also spoke of two sets of aspirants -- one being MLAs and MLCs and the other being party workers.
Sources said there is pressure to accommodate both legislators and party workers, and that about 40-50 appointments will be made, including 25 legislators and the remaining party workers. If the meeting is inconclusive, they will hold another meeting next Tuesday and make an announcement before the Belagavi assembly session. The legislators will be seeking plum posts on boards and corporations while workers will have to be content with whatever is left.
After certain opposition leaders claimed that 45 MLAs were in touch with them, and another leader claimed that the government would not last long after the Lok Sabha polls, there is pressure on the party to accommodate a number of MLAs. The party would also be seeking to appoint MLCs who are not too happy that none of them has been accommodated in the ministry. The calculation is 10 per cent of the total number of legislators -- 225 MLAs plus 75 legislators from the council.
Siddaramaiah and DyCM Shivakumar, who have been pressured by partymen and legislators to go ahead with the appointments for the past few weeks, held preliminary talks with the leadership. While the party is working full throttle to make these appointments, there is concern that if some are not suitably accommodated, they should not turn rebel, but is a risk the party has to take.