Surprise name for finance panel pops up
In a complete volte-face, independent candidate Thimmananjaiah proposed the candidacy of Shivakumar, Shantalanagar corporator, to the BBMP’s Taxation and Finance Committee on Friday.
Thimmananjaiah had on Thursday filed a writ petition in the High Court seeking to stall the election process to the 11 standing committees, which had a truncated tenure.
Speaking to reporters later, Thimmananjaiah in his defence on changing his decision, said: “What if the writ petition is dismissed? We will be left with nothing.”
The Council witnessed hectic lobbying for nearly 20 minutes after the election of the Mayor and Deputy Mayor as Thimmananjaiah insisted on nominating Shivakumar for the Taxation and Finance Committee.
Minister R Ashoka, JD(S) MLA Zameer Ahmad Khan, Congress MLA Ramalinga Reddy, Opposition leaders at the BBMP Council M Nagaraj and Padmanabha Reddy tried to convince Shivakumar and Thimmananjaiah to withdraw the nomination.
Various frantic permutation and combinations were worked out with M Nagaraj running back and forth consulting the Congress, JD(S) and BJP MLAs. While the JD(S) was worried about losing its seat on one of the standing committees, the Congress was unrelenting on parting with its own seat on the standing committee.
Finally, Thimmananjaiah and Shivakumar relented and withdrew the nomination.
