Governor H.R. Bhardwaj on Thursday reportedly asked Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to commence the process of nominating four members to the Legislative Council immediately after the declaration of the Lok Sabha election results.
Mr. Siddaramaiah, who was busy in electioneering for nearly two months, made a courtesy call on the Governor on Thursday and discussed various issues, including filling vacancies in the Legislative Council, according to sources close to the Chief Minister.
Terms of four members nominated by the erstwhile Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government — S.R. Leela, Doddarange Gowda, M.R. Doreswamy and B. Shivappa — will end on June 20. Incidentally, Mr. Bhardwaj’s term comes to an end on June 21.
Avoiding embarrassmentMr. Siddaramaiah took up the issue of nominations ahead of sending formal proposals to the Governor to avoid any embarrassment in the event of the latter refusing them.
The government was in a fix recently when the Governor refused to nominate a district Congress president to the Council under the educationist quota stating the proposal did not have any supportive documents, sources said.
Several names, including Davangere District Congress president K. Abdul Jabbar, jeweller K.P. Nanjundi, film actors Jaimala and Bhavana, writers S.G. Siddaramaiah and K. Marulasiddappa, and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president G. Parameshwara, are doing the rounds for the vacancies, sources said.
