After much delay, the State government finally made appointments to 20 cultural academies on Saturday. Prominent among the appointees include Prof. Purushottam Bilimale as the president of the Kannada Development Authority, L.N. Mukundaraj for Karnataka Sahitya Academy, K.V. Nagaraja Murthy for Karnataka Nataka Academy, and Gollahalli Shivaprasad as the head of Karnataka Janapada Academy among others.
However, some of these appointments have also drawn flak from many. Retired IPS officer Khaleel Ur Rehman, former chairman of Karnataka Urdu Academy, has written to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah taking objection to a Muslim cleric being appointed as the Chairman of the Urdu Academy. A Muslim cleric from Hubballi Mohammed Ali Khaji has been appointed as the Chairman for the Academy. Drawing attention to how several non-Muslim writers wrote in Urdu, he said the appointment of a cleric brought into question the secular credentials of the Congress government.
Meanwhile, transgender activist Akkai Padmashali, whose autobiography is critically acclaimed, has been appointed as a member of the Karnataka Sahitya Academy. However, in a letter written to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, she has appealed to him to remove her as a member of the academy. “My fight for the transgender community encompasses all fields and I hope the party nominates me to either the Legislative Council or the Rajya Sabha and give representation to the community,” she said in her letter.