BANGALORE: The filling of the two vacancies in the coalition Ministry will again be postponed till after the byelections in the Shimoga Lok Sabha and Chamarajpet Assembly constituencies. The appointment of chairmen of boards and corporations, a vehement demand of the Janata Dal (Secular), will also meet the same fate.

The Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh, who arrived from New Delhi on Friday, candidly spoke of the actual position instead of holding out an assurance about the appointment "any time or in the near future." However, Mr. Singh said the lists of candidates for the post of chairmen have already been prepared by the Congress and the Janata Dal (S). He declined to fix a deadline for the appointments stating that it is an internal affair of the two parties.

`Illegal' projects

He said the all-party delegation led by him had met the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, in New Delhi and tried to convince him about the illegality being committed by Andhra Pradesh by building irrigation projects in the Krishna river basin, which affect the interests of people and farmers in Karnataka. The Prime Minister assured the delegation that he will consider replacing the Union Water Resource Development Secretary, Harinarayan, hailing from Andhra Pradesh, who is accused of having connived with the Andhra Pradesh Government in taking up illegal irrigation projects in that State. Mr. Dharam Singh said the Prime Minister heard all the leaders in the delegation, including the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, B.S. Yediyurappa, of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

He said that he is unhappy that the BJP leaders did not accompany him when the delegation met the Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad, for expediting the pending railway projects in the State.

The State BJP leaders were following in the footsteps of their national leaders who are boycotting the proceedings in Parliament demanding the resignation of the Railway Minister.

Mr. Singh said that the BJP's State unit leaders should have accompanied him to meet Mr. Prasad if Mr. Yediyurappa has concern for the development of railways in the State.

The delegation, he said, could not meet the Home Minister, Shivraj Patil, and discuss the issue of naxal menace. But, he said that during his next visit to New Delhi to attend a meeting to be addressed by the Prime Minister, he will discuss the naxal issue with him. He exuded confidence that the State will not lose the ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation) project and he discussed it with the State MPs as well as the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mani Shankar Aiyar.

JD(S) rally

The Chief Minister said he did not broach the issue of Daridra Narayana rally organised by the Janata Dal (S) on Saturday with the United Progressive Alliance Chairperson, Sonia Gandhi. He added that he is not worried about the rally.

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