CMC chief withdraws resignation

Nazia, who had submitted her papers as the City Municipal Council president on Saturday, September 3, did a u-turn in less than a week, withdrawing her resignation on Friday, September 9.

Her withdrawal, however, has already had CMC members planning for and even calculating for the most profitable kind of party and faction changes.

Union Minister and local leader of the Congress K H Muniyappa, former minister and JD(S) leader K Shrinivas Gowda and State Textiles Minister R Varthur Prakash are all drawing action plans to further empower their respective factions.

Nazia, a supporter of Muniyappa, had rendered her resignation on the day of the election of the vice-president, just before the poll. She is said to have taken the step disappointed that 23 members had expressed lack of trust and had submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner requesting a special meeting in order to take a decision in this regard. She even skipped the election of the vice-president.

Later, however, Muniyappa and other Congress leaders tried to pacify Nazia. They assured her of taking measures to win back the trust of the CMC members and even protect her position as president of the Council.

Convinced Nazia visited the Deputy Commissioner’s office along with party leaders and supporters and withdrew her resignation.

Ready for ‘no confidence’

Members of the Varthur faction were ready on September 3 with a letter to the Deputy Commissioner requesting a special meeting to pass a no-confidence motion against Nazia, who had ‘failed in her duty as president of CMC to provide basic amenities to the residents of the city’.

The letter was signed by Council members B Nayaz, Mohammed Aslam, L Khaleel Ahmed, S Riyaz Pasha, Saeed Shafiulla, Ruth Shankrappa, Sriramappa, M V Raghu, Krishnappa, V Prakash, Amaravati, Manjuladevi, Zareena Taj, Nasreen Taj, Kanthamma, V Jyoti, Kusuma, Shabana Asmi, V K Rajesh, Mohammed Salauddin Babu, Naseer Ahmed, V Somashekar and Madhusudhan Kumar.

Backlash

Now, however, there is a new twist to the tale.

Some of the Muslim members of the CMC are said to be expressing support to Muniyappa and becoming reluctant to sign the no-confidence vote.

In addition, both parties in the CMC are planning to use the whip to ensure that, if a no-confidence motion is to be passed, their members remain loyal to their decisions.

The Congress party is trying to collect the support of Muslim members and continue with Nazia as the CMC president. As a back-up, the party is also trying to gather the support of JD(S) members.

Party change

Murali Gowda, Tyagaraj, Radhamma and Raut Shankarappa, the JD(S) members who opposed the party suggestions during the elections for the top two posts of the CMC last year, are said to have been ousted from the JD(S). Tyagaraj, Radhamma and Raut Shankarappa joined the Varthur faction. Murali Gowda, who decided to support Muniyappa, was made the Council vice-president.

Some of the members, who had won the CMC poll with support from the Congress, are now followers of Shrinivas Gowda. Khaleel Ahmed was among them. Now, however, he won the post of vice-president of the CMC as a supporter of Varthur.

Unsure

The CMC is interesting divided among the three parties or factions and no one can precisely say which member would support which party/faction.

If the no-confidence vote against the Council president too is carried out, no one can be sure what the outcome could be.