Mayoral games begin in BJP as lobbying intensifies

Lobbying for the mayor’s post is heating up, with a few BJP corporators trying to outmaneuver opposition leader Padmanabha Reddy, said to be the front-runner for the post.

A five-member selection committee led by MLA S Raghu is currently gathering corporators’ views, which would be placed before party leaders to finalise the candidate.

Apart from Raghu and Yelahanka MLA S R Vishwanath, MLA Ravi Subramanya, state general secretary Ravikumar and district president Muniraju are members of the committee.

S Raghu, MLA of Pulikeshinagar, told DH, “We have collected opinions and suggestions from corporators. We will submit it before party president and chief minister who will take a final call on the matter.”

Several BJP supporters are said to have campaigned against Padmanabha Reddy. But the committee has been
received a positive opinion on him.

In the party meeting attended by 84 BJP corporators, most of them voted for Reddy as the suitable candidate for the post. Reddy’s hold on city issues and his knowledge of the Karnataka Municipal Council (KMC) Act is said to have gone in his favour.

Reddy said he was clueless about the campaign against. Speaking to DH, he said, “I don’t know why there is a campaign against me. But the decision has to be taken by party leaders and I abide by it,” he said.

Other aspirants

Apart from Padmanabha Reddy, Umesh Shetty, Munendra Kumar, Mohan Kumar are the other probable candidates for the post. However, during the party meeting, the names of Gurumurthy Reddy and Balakrishna were also discussed by party members.

One of the corporators who attended the meeting said most of them had extended their support for Reddy.

However, corporators from Govindarajanagar have demanded that both the mayor and the deputy mayor’s post be given to candidates from their constituencies.

Vishwanath said the candidate will be finalised by the chief minister, who is also the In-charge minister of the city.