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.
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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.
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Maharashtra: All files to be vetted by Shinde before being sent to CM Fadnavis
Mumbai (PTI): The Maharashtra government has ordered that all files will now go through Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde before being presented to CM Devendra Fadnavis for approval.
The moves seeks to revive an arrangement which existed in 2023 of files being vetted by the then two deputy CMs --Ajit Pawar and Fadnavis -- before being forwarded to then CM Shinde.
State Chief Secretary Sujata Saunik issued an order to this effect on March 18. "Since July 26, 2023, files were moved from Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who holds the finance department, to (then) Deputy CM Fadnavis, who held the home, law and judiciary departments before being sent to (then) CM Shinde for approval," as per the order.
This arrangement was made after Pawar, who was then leader of opposition in the state assembly, joined the Shinde-led government along with a several NCP MLAs on July 2, 2023.
Now, with Fadnavis taking charge as chief minister, following the victory of the Mahayuti (comprising BJP, Shinde's Shiv Sena and Pawar-led NCP) in the state polls last year, the arrangement has been changed.
All files will be routed from Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, who continues to hold the finance department, to Eknath Shinde, who is also the deputy CM and holds housing and urban development portfolios.
The files will be sent to Fadnavis after Shinde's approval, as per the latest order.
Since the Mahayuti 2.0 took over, there has been speculation of a "cold war" between Shinde and Fadnavis. Both the leaders have strongly denied the speculation.
There have been disagreements over the guardian minister posts of some districts. Fadnavis had to revoke his decision on the appointment of guardian ministers of Nashik and Raigad districts after objections from Shinde.
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