No hurdle for JD(S), BJP truck for mayoral polls

Parties decide to forge an alliance to keep common foe Cong at bay

Unfazed by the unsuccessful alliance during the recently concluded by-polls to Lok Sabha and the Legislative Council, Janata Dal (Secular) and BJP are hoping to forge alliance for the Mayoral polls of Mysore City Corporation (MCC) scheduled on September 5.

Here too, the common intention is to keep Congress out of power, and continue with the truck on the lines of Zilla Panchayat.

As a first step, prominent legislators of both the parties held a meeting at Jaladarshini Guest House on Hunsur road in the city on Friday. This follows the recent announcement of reservation for the posts of mayor (general woman) and deputy mayor (SC).

Congress has 20 corporators against the total 65, while JD(S) too has 20 and BJP 12 corporators, besides two of Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), one each of BSR Congress and KJP and nine Independents.

For mayoral polls, MPs, MLAs and even MLCs from the City are also eligible to vote along with the corporators, taking the total electorate to 75. Accordingly, Congress has three MLAs; M K Somashekar, Tanveer Sait and Vasu and one MP A H Vishwanath taking the total number of voters including the corporators to 24.

The JD(S) has one MLA - G T Devegowda and three MLCs - Sandesh Nagaraj, K Y Narayan Swamy and Marithibbe Gowda taking the total voters to 24.

The Saffron party has only three MLCs - Go Madhusudhan, C H Vijayashankar and Siddaraju along with 12 corporators forming a total of 15 votes. The combined votes of JD(S) and BJP will be 39, one more than the required number to make it to Mayor’s post.
Of the total strength of the council, a party requires the support of more than half (of the council) -- 38 and above.

In principle

A BJP legislator on condition of anonymity told Deccan Herald that though the reservations are announced for the posts of mayor and deputy mayor, both the parties have in principle agreed to join hands.

Another round of meeting is scheduled in a day or two to discuss on sharing power. Apart from mayor and deputy mayor, four standing committees that act as a backbone of the council are also crucial, the legislator added.