NEW DELHI, JUNE 18: The stage is set for the removal of Congress president Sonia Gandhi as chairperson of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Art (IGNCA), when the newly-constituted board meets on Wednesday next. The notice for the meeting was issued by the IGNCA at the behest of the Culture Ministry last week.The IGNCA board will be meeting for the first time after it was reconstituted by the Government a few months ago. According to N R Shetty, member secretary of the IGNCA, the only item on its agenda is the election of a chairperson. However, he declined to say whether Sonia Gandhi will continue as chairperson or a new person will replace her. ``It is for the board to decide. What we have on the agenda is the election of chairman,'' Shetty said on persistent questioning, adding that a consensus is likely to emerge on the issue.According to sources in the Culture Ministry, former president R Venkatraman has been persuaded to head the IGNCA as he is an elderly statesman and the most acceptable face. A final decision, however, is likely to be taken only when Culture and Tourism Minister Ananth Kumar returns to the Capital from Gwalior tomorrow.Kumar, reportedly a Sonia-hater, has already held the initial round of consultations with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Union Home Minister L K Advani. In fact, he didn't want Sonia on the board at all as she had already completed 10 years as chairperson. However, Kumar was somehow persuaded to re-appoint her along with Abid Hussain, P V Narasimha Rao and Prof Yashpal as members.The Centre, through an executive order, had cancelled the appointment of Sonia Gandhi as the lifetime chairperson of the IGNCA and had also removed 16 of the 20 trustees of the IGNAC Trust. It then appointed 16 new trustees, all of whom happen to be renowned personalities from various fields.Until now, there were also no ministers on the board. But now, Ananth Kumar and Urban Affairs Minister Jagmohan have been inducted in their ex-officio capacity. The issue of Sonia's replacement, however, has been left to the newly-appointed trustees who will be meeting for the first time on Wednesday.Shetty said that except for four members who will not be able to attend the meeting as they are travelling abroad, no other person - including Sonia Gandhi - has indicated whether he or she will be attending the meeting. Some of the newly appointed members include Pt Bhimsen Joshi, Bhupen Hazarika, M S Swaminathan, Anjolie Ela Menon, Vidya Niwas Mishra, Aparna Sen, H Narasimhan, K J Yesudas and Sonal Mansingh.
