Embarrassed Govt. cancels appointment

By A. Jayaram

BANGALORE, SEPT. 25. Even before the 13 Congress leaders and workers appointed as chairpersons of boards and corporations could assume office, the Government has cancelled the appointment of one of them having realised that it had committed a faux pas.

It has cancelled the appointment of Mr. Chandrappa of Chikmagalur as Chairman of the Karnataka Leather Industries Development Corporation Ltd. The Government found itself in an embarrassing position as it came to light that Mr. Chandrappa was till recently in the BJP and joined the Congress only three months ago.

A former vice-president of the Chikmagalur Zilla Panchayat and a member of the Scheduled Castes, Mr. Chandrappa is a follower of the former MP, Ms. Taradevi Siddhartha, who is now in the BJP. It is another thing that Ms. Taradevi, a former Congress MP, is stated to be keen on returning to the Congress. She is a niece of the Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr. D. B. Chandre Gowda.

According to the party sources, the Chief Minister, Mr. S. M. Krishna, appointed Mr. Chandrappa following pressure from the Minister for Women and Child Welfare and member of the Congress Working Committee, Ms. Motamma, who belongs to Chikmagalur District.

As there are too many aspirants for chairmanship among party veterans and loyalists, the Government could ill afford to reward a newcomer and that too from the BJP. The Congress sources say that there is one more new entrant to the party among the other 12 appointees and he has secured the appointment by the ``oversight'' of those in the KPCC and the AICC. He was till recently in the Janata Dal (Secular).

Going into the qualifications of those appointed chairmen, most of them have secured the positions on the basis of service to the Congress. One of them, Mr. H.Ramakrishna, who will take over as Chairman of Mysore Minerals has been rewarded for serving the Congress under the ``dynamic leadership of Mr. S. M. Krishna and Mr. V. S. Koujalgi.'' Mr. Sulaiman Thalkhani, who will become Chairman of the State Minorities Development Corporation, is an advocate in Honnavar.

Ms. Vishala Eshwar, who has been appointed Chairperson of the Karnataka Vidyut Kharkhane, is the author of three Kannada novels. She was in charge of the election campaign of Ms. Sonia Gandhi in Bellary during the 1999 Lok Sabha election.

Bangalore-based Congress workers have again secured a majority of the chairmanships - six out of the 12. Next come those from Gulbarga District with three. At least one of the appointees will find that the public sector undertaking he is going to head is defunct. Mr. R. V. Venkatesh has been appointed Chairman of the ``very sick'' Mysore Lamps Ltd.

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Section  : Southern States
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