JOIN USMayor’s tiff with commissioner, seven JD(S) corporators falling victim to Operation Kamala (only to return to their parent party later), and chaos that reigned over the election of R Purushotham as mayor, as six Congress corporators abstained from mayor polls in violation of party whip.
At the fag end of the tenure of council, came the order of regional commissioner’s court disqualifying 12 corporators. This sums up the important events that dented the image of local body in the last five years.
The differences as evident with both going to media (either through direct or indirect ways) and indulging in blame game was the talk of the town at least for a month.
Rajeshwari a Congress corporator had even decided to lodge a complaint with Lokayukta levelling corruption allegations against the said officer. However, the acrimony among the two died down later.
In the last five years (from February 18, 2008), council met for 84 times with 15 convened in the final year of the council. It also had its unsavoury moment, with the disqualification of three corporators Shakeel Ahmed, Farida Begum and Nigara Sultana for remaining absent for the meeting for consecutive three months, as is the rule of Karnataka Municipal Corporations (KMC) Act.
Janata Dal (Secular) corporators H N Srikantaiah and K V Mallesh, and BJP’s Sunanda Phalanetra are believed to be the most punctual to the meetings.
Sources told Deccan Herald, while mayor and deputy mayor are entitled for the honorarium of Rs 8,000 and Rs 5,000 per month, the corporators are liable for honorarium of Rs 3,000 and vehicle allowance of Rs 300. In case of the chairmen of standing committees, they will be not getting Rs 300 vehicle allowance, for the corporation giving vehicle facility. The sitting fee for council is Rs 100 per meeting, and for standing committees it is Rs 200.
Barring Sandesh Swamy of Janata Dal (Secular) who emerged lucky to decorate the seat of mayor, following an alliance with Congress, the remaining four terms saw Congress mayors only; Ayub Khan, Purushotham, Pushpalatha T B Chikkanna and M C Rajeshwari.
Congress had 22 corporators, JD(S) 18 and BJP 16, and nine independents.