Cong, JD(S) reach a pact on mayoral polls

The Congress and the JD(S) have finally reached an agreement on sharing power in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) council.

The JD(S) will get the post of deputy mayor and four standing committees, including tax and finance standing committee, while the post of mayor will remain with the ruling Congress, Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy told reporters on Friday.

There is no more confusion between the two parties with regard to the mayoral election scheduled for September 28. He said all issues have been resolved by holding talks with JD(S) leaders H D Deve Gowda and H D Kumaraswamy.

Reddy said that there are four front-runners for the mayor’s post, which is reserved for  Scheduled Caste candidate.

He said that Sampath Raj (Devarajeevanahalli), L Govind Raj (Subhashnagar), N Anjanappa (Begur), and M Velu Nayakar (Lakshmidevinagar) were in the race.

Sources indicated that the fight was between Sampath Raj and Govind Raj, both of whom had strong political backing. Reddy said that his daughter Sowmya Reddy was aspiring to contest the upcoming Assembly elections. Speaking to reporters, he said that though he was not too keen on his daughter contesting, but she had always been politically ambitious.

Sowmya, who is the secretary of the Congress Mahila Congress, was also recently elected as vice president of Bengaluru City Youth Congress Committee. Sowmya has expressed her desire to contest from Jayanagar Assembly constituency.