Congress-JD-S panel okays Karnataka cabinet expansion soon
Bengaluru, Sep 1 : Karnataka would expand cabinet in September third week and appoint heads of boards and corporations soon, said senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Friday.
"Congress President Rahul Gandhi has agreed to the cabinet expansion in September third week and the appointment of chairman of boards and corporations across the state," Siddaramaiah told reporters here.
The decision to expand the cabinet was taken at the meeting of the 5-member coalition coordination and monitoring committee of the alliance partners.
With Siddaramaiah as the committee's chairman, Chief Minister H.D Kumaraswamy, Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara and Congress general secretary and the party's state unit in-charge K.C. Venugopal are the other members.
JD-S general secretary Danish Ali is the convenor of the panel.
"The Congress has six ministerial berths to induct while the JD-S has one post to fill in the 34-member state cabinet," said Siddaramaiah.
Kumaraswamy met Gandhi in New Delhi on Thursday and urged him to allow his party's state unit to expand the cabinet as elections to the urban local bodies across the state was held on Friday.
"The committee has agreed to appoint chairpersons to 30 boards and corporations, with 20 of them from the Congress and 10 from the JD-S," said the former Congress Chief Minster.
As all the party's newly elected legislators cannot be made ministers due to the ceiling, Siddaramaiah said some of them would be made chairmen of the state-runs boards and corporations.
"Ad hoc or arbitrary" transfer of officials, including IAS and IPS officers within in the first 100 days of the post-poll alliance government also figured prominently in the 2-hour long third meeting of the panel.
"We have told the chief minister to ensure the polices and programmes of the previous Congress government be continued in this fiscal as it's a coalition partner in the state government," added Siddaramaiah.
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“Full prepared..going to win,” Congress MP KC Venugopal ahead of Kerala polls
EC not functioning as a neutral institution: Venugopal
Congress MP K. C. Venugopal on Monday raised concerns over the election schedule announced by the Election Commission of India for the upcoming Kerala Assembly election, questioning the timing of the poll dates and alleging that the schedule leaves limited time for campaigning.
Speaking to news agency ANI in Delhi after the poll panel announced elections in five states and Union Territories, Venugopal said that the Congress and the United Democratic Front (UDF) are fully prepared for the elections and confident of victory. At the same time, he questioned the pattern of dates announced by the Election Commission.
“We are fully prepared, we are going to win the elections... You can see how the Election Commission has set the dates. The first phase of elections is on the 9th, nominations are due until the 23rd, scrutiny is on the 24th, nominations can be withdrawn until the 26th, and after that, there are 11 days for campaigning,” he said.
“As for Kerala, there is Easter and Good Friday in the first week...The Election Commission could have announced the dates earlier... The counting date is on May 4th, so what was the point of holding elections in Kerala so early? What is their intention behind holding elections on the same day in Kerala, Puducherry, and Assam?... We are confident that we will win, but the people of the country are seeing the biased attitude of the Election Commission...,” he added.
He further stated that his party was ready for elections irrespective of the dates announced by the poll body.
“We are going to win the election. India's strategy has been set up. And we are all ready for winning this election. But one thing as far as declaring election, even though they are giving only for five days, we are going to win the election. We have no problem,” he said.
Detailing the poll schedule while questioning the time available for campaigning, he stated, “but you can see the pattern of date which the election commission announced. Yesterday they declared election, and today they notified us. The first phase of election on April 9th, filing of nomination will be over on the 23rd of this month, 24th scrutiny, 26th withdrawal of nomination. After 26, four plus seven, 11 days campaign.”
“As far as Kerala is concerned, April first week is a holy week. The holiday week means, Good Friday is there. Nobody will do anything on Good Friday. Easter is the big festival. These festivals are natural, you have to see that. Among the 11 days, working days, two, three days will go for holidays. Then hardly seven, eight days for campaigning in this election for candidates,” the Congress MP questioned.
The Congress leader said the Election Commission could have announced the dates earlier if there was a need for an early election schedule.
Questioning the urgency behind placing Kerala in the first phase of polling, he added that the counting date is much later.
“Which is the date of counting? Fourth May. Then what is the urgency of putting Kerala in the first phase without giving sufficient time for candidates? And putting Kerala, Puducherry, Assam together, what is the intention behind that?” Venugopal questioned.
He also alleged that the Election Commission was not functioning as a neutral institution.
“The Election commission is completely losing that capacity as a neutral player. You can see 14 of our prime minister's programs over and on the 15th they announce the election, 16th notification comes,” he said.
Venugopal further stated that such tactics would not affect the Congress’ prospects in the election.
“They think that this type of techniques and tactics, because of these techniques and tactics, UDF is going to lose, and Congress is going to lose. This is their complete dream only. This is not going to happen. We are very much confident at any cost, whether they are not giving any time also, we are going to win the election,” he said.
“But the people of India are watching this. The tricks of the election commission. To restrict the campaign, people of India are watching. This I want to bring into the notice of the nation. That's all,” Venugopal said.
The Election Commission of India on Sunday announced the schedule for the Kerala Assembly election. Polling in the state will be held in a single phase on April 9 while the counting of votes is scheduled to take place on May 4.
