The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : BMP panel members elected

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 14, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

BMP panel members elected

Staff Reporter

Differences in Congress and Janata Dal (S) come to the fore during elections

BANGALORE: Infighting in the ruling Congress and Opposition Janata Dal (Secular) parties in the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) Council came to the fore on Tuesday, when members of the two parties rebelled against their leaders during the elections to the Standing Committees on Town Planning, Appeals and Works.

There was stiff competition among corporators to get elected to these committees. Unable to choose the members to be elected, the Congress had put off the elections on two occasions in the last 10 days.

On Tuesday, there was high drama inside and outside the council when the Mayor Mumtaz Begum started the election process.

Three members from the Janata Dal (S), K. Devdas, V. Nagaraj and Lakshmi Nagaraj, went against the party's whip to file nomination papers as rebel candidates for the Town Planning, Appeals and Works committees.

When the Mayor refused to accept their nomination papers, the BJP members alleged that the elections are not being conducted in a democratic manner.

After the elections, two members from the Congress, G. Srinivas and H. Ramakrishnaiah, who were chosen as members of the Town Planning and Works committees, respectively, gheraoed the Bangalore City District Congress Committee president R. Ramalinga Reddy and demanded that they be allowed to head the committees.

A verbal dual ensued between the supporters of Mr. Ramalinga Reddy and the two corporators who alleged that money had changed hands in return for memberships and the top posts of these committees.

Earlier, Janata Dal (S) member M.K. Kupparaj alleged that the Mayor had violated the Karnataka Municipal Corporations (KMC) Act by holding simultaneous elections to the five committees on December 6. When the Mayor again announced elections for three committees on Tuesday, he termed the elections as illegal.

M. Nagaraj, who was elected member of the Standing Committee on Accounts, resigned, and the Prakashnagar corporator G. Padmavathy was elected unanimously in his place.

While S.K. Venkatesh was chosen chairman of the Works Committee, Abdul Raqeeb Zakir will head the Appeals Committee. The leaders are yet to decide on the chairperson of the Town Planning Committee.

The following members were elected unanimously to the Works Committee: Nagaratna, Marimuttu, Kokila Chandrashekar, B. Selvam, S.K. Venkatesh, H. Ramakrishnaiah and K.B. Mohan.

Appeals Committee: Abdul Raqeeb Zakir, N. Munireddy, Venkatesh Murthy, Mahalakshmi B.K. Venkatesh, N. Indira, Syed Jaleel and Zareena Begum.

Town Planning Committee: V. Srinivas, B.S. Puttaraju, G. Srinivas, S. Rajanna, Syed Jameel Ahmed, Geeta Sadashiv and B. Someshekar.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has nominated the Ganesh Mandir corporator A.H. Basavaraju as the party's floor leader in the council.

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