BANGALORE: The former Chairman of the Legislative Council and Congress leader, B.L. Shankar, has been removed from the presidentship of the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishat by its executive committee which met here on Saturday. He has been replaced by Saroja K.M. Nanjappa.

The committee has also removed the in-charge secretary of the Parishat D.K. Chowta and elected M.J. Kamalakshi as the new general secretary.

Both Ms. Nanjappa and Ms. Kamalakshi are life members of the Parishat. Saturday's meeting also coopted S.N. Sridevi Rao to the executive committee.

Explaining the reasons for the removal of Mr. Shankar and Mr. Chowta, Ms. Kamalakshi said that the "illegal actions of the two necessitated the extreme action." She said that one such action of the two was the effort made by them to transfer the land leased by the Government to the Parishat (formerly part of the vast grounds of Kumara Krupa Guesthouse in High Grounds) to the Chitrakala Parishat Trust, to which the trust was not entitled. They had also made certain appointments to senior posts unilaterally.

The Chitrakala Parishat was in recent months facing divisions among its office-bearers and protests from the students of its College of Fine Arts.

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