Bengaluru, (DHNS): As an immediate measure to douse the fire of disgruntlement, the Coalition Coordination and Monitoring Committee on Thursday decided to appoint chairpersons or presidents at 30 boards and corporations of the government within a week. “It was decided to immediately fill up 30 boards and corporations. The chief minister and deputy chief minister will discuss and finalise it within a week,” committee chairperson and former chief minister Siddaramaiah told reporters after the meeting. The Congress will get two-thirds of the posts at boards and corporations while one-third will go to the JD(S), as per the agreement the alliance partners have inked.

These 30 posts at boards and corporations could be elevated to the Cabinet rank. Siddaramaiah himself had taken this route to buy peace when he appointed 21 disgruntled legislators as heads of various boards and corporations with Cabinet rank in 2016. The first meeting of the coordination committee lasted a little over an hour. Committee members Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka K C Venugopal and its convenor and JD(S) national secretray Kunwar Danish Ali were present. Disgruntlement in the Congress camp was discussed in the coordination committee’s maiden meeting.

“The chief minister and I will discuss with the Congress high command on further expansion of the Cabinet,” Parameshwara,who is also KPCC chief, told reporters. The committee also resolved to form a 5-member panel to draft a common minimum programme (CMP) for the government to pursue. “The Congress and the JD(S) had their own manifesto in which promises were made for the next five years. But it’s practically not possible to implement both. So, a committee having three Congress and two JD(S) representatives will draft a CMP in 10 days,” Siddaramaiah, who is also Congress Legislature Party leader, said. It was also decided that popular and flagship programmes of the previous Siddaramaiah-led Congress government would continue.

“After the CMP is approved, this government will think of introducing new programmes,” Siddaramaiah said. The schemes include Anna Bhagya, Indira Canteen, free bus pass for students among others.