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Efforts on to get Chairman of KPCC OBC Cell removed

By Our Special Correspondent

Bangalore Sept. 9. Renewed efforts are on in the OBC Cell of the KPCC to get the Chairman, B.J. Puttaswamy, who was appointed by the AICC less than two months ago, removed.

The co-Chairman of the department, L.R. Ananth, has urged the AICC General Secretary in charge of the State, Vayalar Ravi, to remove Mr. Puttaswamy on the ground that he is a newcomer to the Congress and had contested against the official candidate in the 1999 Assembly elections.

Mr. Ananth has stated that Mr. Ravi, whom he met here on Saturday, agreed to take up the matter with the AICC President, Sonia Gandhi.

The AICC OBC Cell appointed Mr. Puttaswamy, a former Congress MLC, as Chairman in the last week of July. He was selected from among a panel of three names recommended by the KPCC President, Allum Veerabhadrappa, in March 2002. The other names were those of Mr. Ananth and Sathyanarayana Swamy, President of the FKCCI.

However, after the AICC announced the appointment of Mr. Puttaswamy, and Mr. Ananth and some others protested, Mr. Veerabhadrappa wrote to the Chairman of the AICC OBC Cell and former Union Law minister, P. Shivashankar, to annul the appointment of Mr. Puttaswamy and appoint Mr. Ananth in his place. Mr. Veerabhadrappa sought the change in his July 30 letter to Mr. Shivashankar on the ground that "since the person (Mr. Puttaswamy) has joined our party recently, I request you to change the same and announce the name of Mr. L.R. Ananth as the Chairman of the OBC Cell". The PCC President had further said that probably owing to oversight, the name that was placed last in the "list showing our preference" was picked for appointment.

Mr. Veerabhadrappa has not helped matters by denying having written the July 30 letter, copies of which are in circulation in Congress circles. His denial came on September 6.

Mr. Ananth and those opposed to Mr. Puttaswamy's appointment have been contending that he was appointed Chairman of the Cell by the co-Chairman of the AICC OBC Cell, Srikanth Jena, without the knowledge of Mr. Shivashankar. Even the AICC and Mr. Ravi were unaware of the appointment.

However, Mr. Puttaswamy denies it and says that Mr. Shivashankar was in the know of his appointment. He also maintains that the OBC Cell can make appointments on its own without bringing it to the notice of the AICC.

Mr. Puttaswamy, who resigned from the Congress and joined the Lok Shakti, contested the 1999 Assembly elections as an independent from Malleswaram in Bangalore. He lost to M.R. Seetharam of the Congress. He rebuts the view that he is a newcomer to the Congress. He had joined the Congress in 1982 and was a party MLC for six years till 1988. He rejoined the Congress over two years ago.

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