CM meets governor before council nominations

BANGALORE: In an effort to avoid conflict with Raj Bhavan during nominations to the legislative council, chief minister Siddaramaiah met governor HR Bhardwaj on Thursday.
The governor has, in the past, returned nomination proposals sent by the government - V Somanna's was one. This time, to avoid embarrassment, the CM sought clarifications on the criteria for nominating citizens to the council.
Apart from one seat, four more will be vacant next month. Doddarange Gowda, SR Leela, BB Shivappa and MR Doreswamy, appointed during the BJP tenure, are set to retire.
The government, through the governor, can nominate persons from cooperative, literature, arts, science and social service sectors to the council. However, various governments have used this category of nomination to rehabilitate full-time politicians who are in the wilderness after electoral setbacks.
The list of aspirants for the nominated categories is growing as several educationists, littérateurs, cinema artistes and full-time politicians are pressuring Siddaramaiah and KPCC chief G Parameshwara to consider their names.
But Siddaramaiah said, "The meeting with the governor was a courtesy call; nothing political was discussed."