A fresh list of independent director-appointees to central public sector enterprises, released Friday by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), comprises at least six more members of the BJP. This comes a day after The Indian Express reported that the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) had on January 24 approved at least 10 BJP members to be on the boards of state-owned companies. During the UPA regime as well, its faithful were appointed as independent directors in a number of public sector undertakings, notably banks. The new list released Friday includes: # Odisha BJP vice-president Rajkishore Das, who contested elections to the state assembly in 2014, has been made independent director of Hindustan Fluorocarbons Ltd. # Former Vadodara mayor Jyoti Kaushal Sheth has been appointed on the board of Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd (FACT), a sick PSU. # Another appointment on the FACT board is Gangidi Manohar Reddy, BJP candidate for the 2009 Andhra Pradesh assembly elections. According to his affidavit filed with the poll panel, Reddy has a PhD in chemistry. # Gujarat BJP media cell convenor Harshad A Patel, who has a PhD in education, has been appointed independent director of EdCIL (India) Ltd, a Mini Ratna PSU under the Ministry of Human Resource Development. # National general secretary of BJP’s Mahila Morcha unit L Victoria Gowri has been appointed on the board of Kamarajar Port Ltd under the Ministry of Shipping. # Vishakha Shailani, who contested the 2012 municipal elections in Delhi, has been appointed independent director of National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation. On Friday, The Indian Express reported that 10 BJP leaders including Shazia Ilmi, Rajika Kacheria, Asifa Khan, Surama Padhy and Kiran Ghai Sinha have been appointed on boards of bluechip PSUs such as Engineers India Ltd, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, National Aluminium Company Ltd, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd, among others. Reached for comment, Shailani, who has been with the BJP for 25 years, said she went ahead with the formalities of applying for the post of independent director on receiving directions from the party’s state unit. “Abhi kuchch chal toh rahi thi prakriya, woh toh hai meri jaankaari mein, jo formalities hoti hain, woh maine poori ki hai (Some activity was happening, I am aware of that. I have completed all necessary formalities),” she said. Jyoti Kaushal Sheth, who is the women’s wing president of Gujarat BJP, said the process of her application for the post was initiated by the party. She later received calls from “a fertiliser company” inquiring about her experience in public life. Rajkishore Das confirmed his appointment, and said he received a call from an undersecretary in the Department of Chemicals, and he applied accordingly. Gangidi Manohar Reddy, L Victoria Gowri, Harshad A Patel could not be reached for comments.
