Siddaramaiah consolidates his position in Mysuru

With the election of a Congress Corporator as Mayor of Mysuru after a gap of six years, former chief minister Siddaramaiah has consolidated his position in the party after his debacle in the general polls, held to the Assembly in May. The last Congress Mayor was Rajeshwari Puttaswamy, who was elected in 2012.

Since the formation of the Council of the Mysuru City Corporation (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 was a face loss for then chief minister Siddaramaiah as his party suffered a setback in his hometown. The BJP had been a natural partner to the JD(S) in Mysuru district and had played a major role in keeping the Congress away from power in most of the local bodies, including the MCC.

Finally, after a series of parleys, the coalition partners arrived at a decision, following talks between Siddaramaiah and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda. Despite pressure from the ministers and other JD(S) leaders from Mysuru on Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy to advocate for a JD(S) mayor, the Congress was able to convince the JD(S) supremo to elect a Congress mayor.

During the last term of the council, last year, the ruling Congress announced the reservation to facilitate only Congress corporators to become mayor and deputy mayor. Still, the JD(S)-BJP coalition succeeded in roping in a Congress aspirant and sprung a surprise. Rebel Congress Corporator Bhagyavathi had become mayor.

Even this time, there were chances of a rebellion in the Congress as there were four aspirants for the Mayor’s post. Besides Pushpalatha Jaganath, there was former deputy mayor H M Shantha Kumar, Hajira Seema and Shobha Sunil. However, Rural Development Minister Krishna Byregowda and Congress leaders held a meeting with all party corporators and finalised the nominee amicably.