Congress candidate likely to be elected MCC Mayor

It is a peculiar situation of a coalition partner not having its corporators in the top posts in the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC).

Election for Mayor of Mysuru will be held on June 11, following the disqualification of Rukmini Madegowda of the JD(S), who was elected on February 24. Now, the JD(S) is slated to offer the post to coalition partner Congress.

R Murthy, district (city) Congress president, said that the coalition will continue for the entire term of the present council of the MCC.

“JD(S) leader, MLA Sa Ra Mahesh offered the choice to the Congress, whether to have a JD(S) mayor or a Congress mayor. The offer was communicated to both Congress Legislative Party Leader Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president D K Shivakumar. Both opined that the Congress should have the mayor’s post this time,” he said.

Murthy said, “As per the agreement at the beginning of the present council, this term should have been that of the Congress. The opinion of Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar is communicated to Mahesh by KPCC working president R Dhruvanarayana. Mahesh is also in touch with MLA Tanveer Sait, the only MLA of the Congress in Mysuru city. A meeting of the Congress will be held on Wednesday, to discuss about the candidate for the election, reserved for general woman.”

According to the Council Secretary of the MCC, the election will be held at 12 noon on June 11 at Krishnaraja Wadiyar Hall. Regional Commissioner G C Prakash will preside over the election.

It has to be recalled that Rukmini was elected as Mayor, besides Anwar Baig of Congress as as Deputy Mayor, on February 24. The term of the previous Mayor Tasneem of the JD(S) had ended on January 19.

MLA Tanveer Sait had played a vital role, in continuing the coalition and had agreed to the demand of the JD(S) for the Mayor’s post. As per the agreement in 2018, the Mayor’s post was for the Congress in the first and third term of the existing council.

Initially, the JD(S) was not ready to continue the alliance due to a rift between Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah and JD(S) leaders, especially former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy. This development lead to a rift between Sait and Siddaramaiah. Most of the Congress leaders, supporters of Siddaramaiah, criticised Sait. Sait’s supporters went to the extent of staging protests against Siddaramaiah. The party sought an explanation from Sait.

Meanwhile chairpersons of four standing committees were elected unanimously for a period of one year, on March 18. M S Shoba of JD(S) to Tax, Finance and Appeals standing committee; Corporator of Ward 5 Usha of Congress to Public Health, Education and Social Justice standing committee; G S Sathyaraju of Congress to Town Planning and Improvement standing committee; and Corporator of Ward 45 K Nirmala of JD(S) to Accounts standing committee were elected.

It has to be noted that Rukmini was disqualified by the High Court on May 26. Earlier, the trial court had disqualified Rukmini for not disclosing the details of asset in her affidavit filed with her nomination papers in 2018.

Rajani Annaiah of the Congress, who had lost the election to Rukmini in the 2018 polls, had filed a petition in a district court, alleging false affidavit, regarding assets. The court annulled the election. Later, Rukmini filed an appeal before the high court, which upheld the disqualification. Thus, a by-election should be held in the Ward 36, under the MCC, earlier represented by Rukmini.

Under the MCC, there are 65 wards and the BJP leads with 22 corporators, followed by Congress 19 and JD(S) 17. There are five Independents, one BSP corporator and one vacancy.

This time, 64 corporators have the right to vote, as Ward 36 is vacant. The others who vote in the MCC election are: MP Pratap Simha of BJP, MLAs S A Ramadass and L Nagendra of BJP, Tanveer Sait of Congress and G T Devegowda of JD(S) and MLCs of JD(S) Sandesh Nagaraj, K T Srikantegowda and Marithibbegowda.