Former Karnataka ministers Umashree, M R Seetharam, and ex-IRS officer Sudham Das nominated as MLCs
Bengaluru, Aug 19: Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot on Saturday nominated former ministers Umashree, M R Seetharam, and former IRS officer H P Sudham Das, as Members of the Karnataka Legislative Council (MLC), with immediate effect.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had recently finalised the names and had recommended it to the Governor for approval. Four senior ministers had expressed reservations about the nominees and had written in protest to the Congress high command.
''In exercise of the powers vested in me by sub-clause (e) of clause (3) of Article 171 of the Constitution of India, I, Thawaarchand Gehlot, Governor of Karnataka, nominate the the following three persons to be the members of the Karnataka Legislative Council, with immediate effect,'' the official notification said. The appointments are to fill in vacancies created due to the retirement of Mohan Kumar Kondajji, P R Ramesh and C M Lingappa, after completion of their tenure.
ALSO READ: Man from Sikkim gets called 'Chinese' by miscreants in Bengaluru, mercilessly beaten up
According to official sources, Seetharam is being nominated under the educationist quota, Umashree for her contribution as an actor, and Das for social work.
Umashree, who is said to be Siddaramaiah's confidant, had missed a Congress ticket to contest Assembly polls from Terdal in Bagalkot district, while Seetharam is an educationist, his son Raksha Ramaiah is the national general secretary of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC).
Sudham Das, a former Enforcement Directorate (ED) official, had joined Congress, ahead of the Assembly polls. His name is believed to have been pushed by Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar. Das's father H Puttadas was a former MLA from the erstwhile Sathanur constituency, which was earlier represented by Shivakumar.
Four senior ministers of the Siddaramaiah cabinet -- G Parameshwara, K H Muniyappa, H C Mahadevappa and R B Timmapur -- had recently written to the Congress high command, including AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge and former President Sonia Gandhi, expressing their discontent, especially to the nomination of Sudham Das.
The Ministers -- all four from the Dalit community -- have said that they were not taken into confidence by the leadership before finalising the names, and have raised questions regarding Sudham Das, his contribution to the party, and his nomination as MLC overlooking others.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Excise officers seize more than 200 boxes of Goan liquor stored illegally in Karkala house
Udupi: The Udupi Excise Department seized more than 200 boxes of Goa liquor, worth lakhs of rupees, which had been stored illegally in a house owned by Avinash Malli in Bola village of Karkala taluk.
The excise officers conducted a raid on the two houses owned by Malli in the village under suspicion that a liquor racket was functioning from there. They found and confiscated the 200 boxes of illegal supplies of Goan liquor in one of the houses, during the raid.
Further investigation on the matter is on.
