Kumaraswamy unhappy over appointment of Thakur as Governor

Gulbarga, Aug 20 (UNI) Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy today expressed unhappiness over the appointment of Rameshwar Thakur as the new Karnataka Governor by the UPA Government at the Centre without consulting the State Government.

Talking to newspersons at Hunsagi village, where he had come for an overnight stay, he said there was no use in expressing displeasure over the appointment as it had become a practice for the Union Governments to appoint Governors without consulting the states.

''I feel that the appointment of Mr Thakur is a coincidence as it is a crucial time in Karnataka politics when Janata Dal (S) will be handing over power to its coalition partner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on October three,'' he said.

The Chief Minister said the relationship between the outgoing Governor T N Chaturvedi, whose five-year-tenure ends on August 23, and the JD(S)-BJP government was cordial.

It was 'very' disappointing that the Centre did not care to consulting him before appointing the new governor, he added.

He said a joint legislature party meeting, involving members of the JD(S) and the BJP, would be held shortly in Bangalore to discuss the details of the transfer of power.

According to the pre-government formation agreement between JD(S) and the BJP, the two parties had agreed to share the Chief Minister's post for 20 months each before the next election was due. As per the understanding, JD(S) had to pass on the mantle to BJP on October three.

Mr Kumaraswamy said the Centre had approved renaming of 11 cities including Bangalore and Gulbarga. Bangalore would become Bengaluru, Gulbarga would become Kalaburgi once the change of names was gazetted, he added.

UNI