BENGALURU: Loyal workers of the ruling Congress could soon have a good reason to celebrate as party vice president Rahul Gandhi reportedly turned down Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s proposal to appoint legislators as chairpersons of state-owned boards and corporations, but instead reward them with these posts.
On Saturday, Mr Gandhi reportedly poured cold water on Mr Siddaramaiah’s attempt, the second in recent months, to appease MLAs by appointing them to these posts.
He asked the Chief Minister and KPCC president, Dr G. Parameshwar, to draw up a list of party workers who had toiled for the success of the party, and appoint them as heads of boards and corporations.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, a senior leader in New Delhi said though Mr Siddaramaiah won over several senior leaders including, party general secretary, Digvijay Singh, he could not convince Mr Gandhi who apparently sought detailed information on the list prepared by the CM.
“It was evident that both Mr Siddaramaiah and Dr Parameshwar were not on same page as they used to be on earlier occasions. Although they are at loggerheads on many issues, whenever the issue of these appointments came up, they used to bury the hatchet and go with almost similar list or similar options. Therefore, most of the time, their lists used to get cleared. But, this time both do not seem to be on the same page as far as appointments to boards and corporations are concerned,” the leader added.
The leader said Dr Parameshwar batted in favour of party workers on Friday while Mr Siddaramaiah continued to argue that he would prefer MLAs to head these posts. Mr Gandhi apparently sought a detailed list of party workers from the block level to district level who were working in the same capacity for more than a decade.
“If workers are toiling for more than a decade in the same post, then I think this is the right time for us to reward them, isn't it?” he reportedly remarked when he saw the list. He also said that he was not ready to accept the list on the basis of caste or religion, but one with workers having worked for 10 years and caste as the second criteria.
