Mysuru Mayoral election on Feb 24

The exercise to elect the 23rd Mayor and Deputy Mayor for Mysuru will be held on February 24. With the announcement of the election date, political activities in two national parties - the BJP and the Congress - has picked up and regional party JD(S) is following the 'wait and watch' policy.

The term of the previous Mayor Tasneem of JD(S) ended on January 19. As per the agreement in 2018, the JD(S) had to support the Congress. But, due to lack of coordination between the Congress and the JD(S) leaders, the JD(S) is yet to decide on extending support to the Congress.

As per the agreement between the Congress and JD(S) in 2018, the Mayor's post was reserved for the Congress, in first and third term. In the first term, Congress corporator Pushpalatha Jagannath was the Mayor.

BJP MLA L Nagendra is confident of getting support of the JD(S). He said, "We have already spoken with JD(S) leaders in this regard. The matter is discussed between state leaders also. The JD(S) will definitely support the BJP in the Mayor election,” he said.

According to Congress MLA Tanveer Sait, JD(S) leaders have agreed to support the Congress. "But, the leaders are yet to announce it. As per the agreement, JD(S) should support the Congress for five years. The JD(S) leaders will keep their words," Sait said.

To a query on Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah’s statement that the Congress will not join hands with the JD(S), Sait said, "The party leaders’ decision is for state-level. For the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC), we have decided to join hands with the JD(S), with the consent of the party leaders."

Congress is planning to utilise the rift between JD(S) leaders for the Mayor's election. It has to be noted that JD(S) leaders G T Devegowda and Sa Ra Mahesh are not in good terms. Thus, the Congress is planning to take the support of the corporators, who are supporters of G T Devegowda. Devegowda has maintained a distance from party activities, due to the animosity with Sa Ra Mahesh.

According to sources, JD(S) is eyeing the Mayor's post. Thus, the party leaders have not committed either to the BJP or the Congress.

Mysuru Mayor's post is reserved for General Category (Woman) and Deputy Mayor's post for General Category. Out of 65 members, 32 are women corporators. While BJP has 13 women corporators, JD(S) has 11. Seven are Congress corporators and BSP has one corporator.

With 22 corporators, BJP is the single largest party in the MCC. But, it was in the Opposition during the first two terms of the council, as JD(S) and Congress formed a coalition. Now, JD(S) is likely to align with the BJP.