Mysuru, Nov 14: The friendship between BJP and JD(S) in the Mysuru City Corporation resulted in the defeat of Congress candidates in new Mayoral poll in Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s native. The JD(S), which spurned the overtures made by the Congress, continued its two-year-old understanding with the BJP in the MCC by sharing the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor.
Fifty six year-old B.L. Byrappa, who represents ward no. 12 in Mysuru City Corporation (MCC), was on Friday elected as the new Mayor of Mysuru, with the support of the JD(S) and BJP. G.H. Vanitha, the BJP councillor representing ward no. 65, was chosen as the new Deputy Mayor.
Though elected to the MCC from the erstwhile Karnataka Janata Party (KJP), floated by former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, Mr. Byrappa claimed he has since joined the JD(S).
A former Chairman of the MCC’s Standing Committee on Tax and Finance, Mr. Byrappa was chosen as the JD(S) nominee for Mayor’s post. The BJP, which has been sharing power with the JD(S) in the MCC for the last two years, nominated Ms. Vanitha for the Deputy Mayor’s post.
While Mr. Byrappa defeated Congress nominee D. Nagabhushan, who represents ward no. 34, by a margin of 8 votes, Ms. Vanitha defeated C.S. Rajani, a councillor representing ward no. 56, by 9 votes during the election.
Apart from the councillors of the 65 wards of the MCC, the other elected representatives from Mysuru, who participated in the Mayoral polls held on Friday, included Congress legislators Tanvir Sait, Vasu, M.K. Somashekar and Dharmasena; JD(S) legislators G.T. Deve Gowda, Marithibbegowda and Sandesh Nagaraj; and BJP MP Pratap Simha and MLC G. Madhusudan.
Surprise choice
The emergence of B.L. Byrappa as the JD(S) nominee for the mayoral polls held here on Friday surprised many.
Mr. Byrappa being the party’s choice came to known only after the JD(S) councillors, who were closeted in a resort in Bidadi on the outskirts of Bengaluru, returned to Mysuru on Friday morning.
The JD(S) was apparently playing its cards close to its chest as party councillors said the name was finalised by the party leadership only late on Thursday night.
Initially, the names of JD(S) councillors, B.M. Nataraj, Mahadevappa and C. Ramesh, were doing the rounds.
Mr. Byrappa, who had been elected to the MCC as a KJP candidate during the elections held in 2013, said that he had already joined the JD(S) and was the “unanimous” choice of the party councillors. “He had been supporting our Mayoral candidates in the previous elections,” G.T. Deve Gowda, MLA, claimed.
But, the Congress, whose overtures the JD(S) spurned, took a dig at the party for its failure to choose a candidate of its own. “The JD(S) was unable to find an eligible candidate for the post of Mayor from its own ranks that it nominated one elected from a different party,” said Congress councillor and the former Mayor Ayub Khan.
A rumour relating to a senior Congress leader’s death came to be circulated during the Mayoral polls in Mysuru on Friday.
The former Mayor, Ayub Khan, of the Congress sought to interrupt the election and asked the out-going Mayor R. Lingappa to take up obituary references to the Congress leader if it was true.
While Mr. Lingappa and senior officials conducting the elections denied having received any information in the regard, G.T. Deve Gowda, MLA, criticised the councillor for seeking obituary reference for a senior leader’s death without proper verification.
Mr. Ayub Khan said that he sought a verification of the rumour from the chair after he received a message from the media. An obituary reference will be made only if the rumour is true, he said.
Comments
Add new comment