The Hindu : Karnataka News : Ministry: women may have only token presence

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 30, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Ministry: women may have only token presence

By Alladi Jayasri

BANGALORE, MAY 29. Like the previous S.M. Krishna Ministry, the Dharam Singh Government might be able to give only token representation to women. Two of the women Ministers in the Krishna Government, Motamma and Suma Vasanth, were trounced in the elections this time. Another, Rani Satish, has retired as a member of the Legislative Council. Nafees Fazal will retire as a member of the Council in June 2006, and she could well end up in the new team to be formed.

The new Legislative Assembly has six women members — two each from the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (Secular) and one each from the Congress and the Janata Dal (United). That leaves only three women MLAs — Parimala Nagappa and Vijayalakshmi Bandasiddegowda from the JD(S), and the Kottur MLA, Bhagirathi Marulasiddanagowda of the Congress — as contenders.

Ms. Marulasiddanagowda, who has been elected for the third time, was conspicuously silent in the previous Assembly, and the sole reason she could end up having a berth in the Ministry is her continued winning streak.

In the Legislative Council, the Congress has seven women members out of a total of ten. Two have retired: Ms. Rani Satish and Nirmala Venkatesh. Nafees Fazal was the Minister of State for Science and Technology in the Krishna Government.

The women MLCs who could end up as Ministers are Jalaja Naik, Winifred Fernandes, Ratna Veerashetty Kushnoor, Shubhalatha Vasant Asnotikar, Umashri and Mallajamma.

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