16 CMC members decide to quit Congress primary membership

At least sixteen Congress members of the City Municipal Council (CMC), who held a secret meeting in the city, have decided to tender resignation to their party membership charging that the party’s leaders are not supporting their fight against the BJP’s step motherly attitude towards Congress in the civic body.

The members called on District Congress Committee (DCC) President Dr D L Vijaykumar and appealed to him to release them from the primary membership of the party with immediate effect. Later, they met former MLC Gayathri Shanthe Gowda and Block Congress president Sridhar Ural.

A source told Deccan Herald that development works are being carried out in a snail’s pace in the City Municipal Council areas despite having a party-led government in the state. Also, the civic boy has no full-time commissioner. The ruling BJP is engaged in discrimination while allocating funds under SFC grants and other sources for development works. Inspite of bringing the issue to the notice of the party leaders, none raised their voice, the source said.

The members had decided to tender resignation upset with the attitude of previous district in-charge minister K Abhayachandra Jain. However, with the intervention of the district leaders, the dissidents were pacified.

City Municipal Council   members Rooben Moses, H S Puttaswamy, Anumadhukar, Thejakumar, Krishnamurthy, B M Sandesh, Krishna, Surekha, Sampath Raj, Lakshman, Jagadish, Savitha Anand, Nazeer Hussain, Asmakhan, Jubeda Banu, Kempanahalli and Mahesh participated in the secret meeting.

Though Yashodha Gangadhar remained absent, she has expressed her support to the decision taken in the meeting, a member, who was present in the meeting said.

Meanchile, Vijaykumar has reportedly asked the members not to take any decision in haste. All the differences of opinion will be discussed in a meetin with the district in-charge minister shortly, he is learnt to have told them.

Gayathri Shanthe Gowda said, “The (CMC) members should not come to such a hasty decision. They should give us at least two days’ time. We will listen to the woes.”
A CMC member said, “We will not tender resignation to the membership of the
CMC.

“We will identify ourselves as Independents and continue our fight.”