The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Chairman of BMP Standing Committee on Town Planning elected `unanimously'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 03, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Chairman of BMP Standing Committee on Town Planning elected `unanimously'

Staff Reporter

S. Rajanna, B.S. Puttaraju to be in the post for four months each

BANGALORE: After a delay of three months, Rajajinagar corporator S. Rajanna was finally elected chairman of the Standing Committee on Town Planning on Thursday.

Although Mayor Mumtaz Begum said Mr. Rajanna was elected unanimously, Congress sources said the leaders had worked out a strategy to accommodate both the aspirants — S. Rajanna and B.S. Puttaraju by turns. While Mr. Rajanna will head the committee for the first four months, Mr. Puttaraju will take over for the next four months, sources said.

The election of chairperson for this "cash-rich" committee had become controversial when the Mayor postponed it twice. Last month, it was again put off after a clash between two groups of Congress corporators over the selection of the candidate.

Of the four Congress members in the committee, two were vying for the post and the party leaders were unable to convince them. "Hence the strategy of `four-month' term for each of them. If this strategy works out, it will be the first of its kind in the history of BMP," sources said. With a few senior leaders in the party having taken it as a "prestige issue" to get a candidate of their choice nominated to the post, sources said it was embarrassing for the party to allow the leaders to continue like that. "Such infighting is not good for the party, especially after it lost power recently to make way for the Janata Dal (Secular)-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition Government," the sources added.

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