ZP prez withdraws resignation

Zilla Panchayat president Manjula Venkatesh has withdrawn her resignation.

Speaking to Deccan Herald on Monday, she clarified that she had followed the instructions of Malur legislator S N Krishnaiah Setty and withdrawn her papers from the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department.

The matter came to light when Manjula left the ZP auditorium in the middle of the progress review meeting on Monday, giving rise to suspicions among ZP members about reasons for her action. When the members questioned the ZP chief executive officer Rajendra Cholan, he is said to have expressed ignorance about the matter. The members then contacted the Department office and learnt of the withdrawal of Manjula’s resignation.

The ZP president had submitted her papers on January 30, even as members of the JD(S) and the Congress were planning for a no-confidence motion against her. The ZP, however, had no meeting in this regard. The Panchayat members, who had been all waiting for the no-confidence motion meeting, were surprised by and even unhappy over the withdrawal of resignation. Some of them are also learnt to have spoken to Manjula and expressed their dissatisfaction.

The president has withdrawn her resignation in about 15 days. If she had kept from doing so, the post would have remained vacant. Now, a new situation has come up.

“The vice-president of the Zilla Panchayat or all members should write to me to set a date for a meeting to decide whether the president has the required two-thirds majority support. Only then can I call for a meeting,” Cholan told Deccan Herald.