Congress may get MCC mayor’s post

It has become almost certain that a Congress corporator may be elected as the mayor of Mysuru, after a gap of six years. Minister Krishna Bhyregowda is camping in the city as a representative of the KPCC to supervise the election process, scheduled to be held on Saturday. The party is expected to choose one of its former deputy mayors, Pushpalatha Jaganath and Shantha Kumari.

Following the failure of the JD(S) to wrest the post in parleys with its coalition partner, the leaders of the JD(S) are a disappointed lot. It is learnt that Tourism and Sericulture Minister Sa Ra Mahesh was pressurising Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy to facilitate the election of a JD(S) corporator as mayor, till Friday night.

The last Congress Mayor was Rajeshwari Puttaswamy, who was elected in 2012. Since the formation of the MCC in 2013, the last term, the JD(S) formed a truck with the BJP and managed to keep the Congress away from power. It is learnt that the coalition partners arrived at a decision following talks between former prime minister H D Deve Gowda and former chief minister Siddaramaiah. The first term of the mayor would be for the Congress, which has won 19 seats, while a JD(S) corporator will be elected as deputy mayor. The posts would be alternatively rotated among the coalition partners, over the next five years.

The JD(S) leaders have shifted 18 of their corporators, along with one BSP corporator, to a private resort in Bidadi of Ramanagar district. They would arrive at the MCC for the election directly from the resort.

The mayor’s post is reserved for general category woman, while the deputy mayor’s post is earmarked for backward community ‘A’ category. The names of Sawood Khan and Mohammad Rafique of the JD(S) are discussed for the deputy mayor’s post.

Meanwhile, the BJP, which has won the highest number of seats, 22, is hoping for a discord among the coalition partners. There are five independents also in the 65-member council. Four of them have announced their support to the Congress. The votes required for victory is 38 as there are four MLAs, five MLCs and one MP, who have voting rights. Two of the MLAs and the MP are BJP leaders.