
Bangalore, Jun 25: The Governor, H R Bhardwaj, on Tuesday nominated five persons to the Legislative Council even as four members were elected to the Upper house from the graduates and the teachers constituencies.
Former opposition leader in Council and Congress leader V S Ugrappa, former party MP Iqbal Ahmed Saradagi, Davangere district Congress president Abdul Jabbar and party leader Ivan D'Souza were nominated to the Legislative Council despite the opposition BJP crying foul.
Actor Jayamala, who has been associated with the Congress for many years, has also been nominated to the Council. Bhardwaj had in 2010 rejected the then BJP government's recommendation to nominate former minister V Somanna to the Council, citing Article 171, Sub-clause 5 of the Constitution of India which says that persons with special knowledge or practical experience in literature, science, co-operative movement and social service are to be nominated.
On learning that the ruling Congress was planning to nominate party functionaries to the Council, a delegation of BJP leaders headed by Opposition leader Jagadish Shettar had recently submitted a memorandum to the governor, urging him to prevent the government from making the Upper House a political rehabilitation centre.
The delegation had also reminded Bhardwaj of his 2010 decision and hoped that he would not go against the Constitution. Bhardwaj's term as governor ends on June 29.
The Congress government had apprehensions that he might yield to pressure from various quarters and not approve the list of nominees. Hence, taking no chances, Siddaramaiah personally handed over the list to Bhardwaj on Tuesday evening.
Bhardwaj approved the recommendation and issued a notification in this regard within the few hours of receiving the list of names. However, the notification copy was not made available to the media by Raj Bhavan.
Ugrappa is a close associate of Siddaramaiah, but not on good terms with state Congress chief G Parameshwara. Senior leader Mallikarjun Kharge reportedly wanted Gulbarga man Saradagi to be made MLC as he had lost the Council elections last time.
Abdul Jabbar is a sitting MLC, and is close to minister Shamanoor Shivashankarappa, while D 'Souza supposedly enjoys the support of former Union minister Oscar Fernandes.



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