Board, Corporation appointment process underway

A committee in the Karnataka Congress has begun the process to appoint 1,200 party workers as members and directors of the various Boards and Corporations in the state. The exercise is seen as an opportunity to reward Congress workers who helped the party reach highs of 135 in the Karnataka Assembly election last year, bringing it to power with a comfortable majority.

A committee headed by Home Minister G Parameshwara has decided that it will seek names of three workers from Assembly constituencies where they have their own MLA, another two from other Assembly segments and two more from each District Congress Committee (DCC). The committee, which is tasked to make the appointments, will meet again on Friday. Congress MLA from Shivajinagar Rizwan Arshad, who is a member of the committee, confirmed the same to News Trail. “We have started the process. We’ll do it early.

By the month's end, we’ll completely finish it off,” he said. “We have to identify the workers from every district and decide and then nominate them,” he added. Rizwan added that the appointments would also be based on social justice criteria and include women, Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs). “It’s a Congress policy, right? Social justice. So we have to inform the local MLAs and local leaders, who recommend names to keep the social justice formula in mind and then forward the names,” the MLA said. Upwards of 200 women are expected to be appointed.

Choice posts up for grabs: There are 90 Boards and Corporations in Karnataka and 30 among them are sought after. Boards associated with commerce, industries and water resources are regarded as desirable. Among the prominent ones are Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited (KSDL) chaired by Appaji Nadgouda. KSDL manufactures the famous Mysore Sandal Soap. Others include Karnataka Jungle Lodges and Resorts (KJLR) whose Chairman is Anil Chikkamadu, Karnataka Urban Water Supply Drainage Board (KUWSDB), which is chaired by Vinay Kulkarni, Karnataka Housing Board (KHB) headed by Shivalinge Gowda and Karnataka State Small Industries Development Corporation Limited (KSSIDCL) chaired by KG Bandi.