Shivamogga civic polls: Parties wary of poaching
The Congress in coalition with JD(S), has ruled the corporation for two terms.
SHIVAMOGGA: With the mayoral election of Shivamogga city corporation slated for Friday, major political parties are trying to keep their corporators away from the clutches of rival parties.
The Congress in coalition with JD(S), has ruled the corporation for two terms. Hence the BJP is keen to strike an alliance with JD(S) to keep the Congress away from power this time. Since the Congress enjoyed the mayoral posts for the first two terms, the JD(S) is demanding the mayor post this time. The JD(S) corporators are waiting for the signal from the district JD(S) chief M. Shrikant on the stance they should adopt this time.
As part of a plan, all political parties – Congress, BJP and JD(S)- had taken their corporators on a tour to prevent poaching. The JD(S) corporators and a KJP member Gopi along with corporators Hamali Manjunath and Gowri Srinath have been taken to Madikeri while another KJP corporator, Numan, independent corporators and SDPI corporators have gone to an unknown place.
The BJP corporators who were in Shivamogga on Wednesday, will take a short trip to Shikaripur on Thursday and return on Friday at the time of the mayor election.
The Deputy Mayor’s post is reserved for a SC woman candidate and the present mayor is the only candidate in the city corporation eligible for the post. A total 42 voters, including 35 corporators, four MLCs, two MLAs, and two MPs are eligible to vote to elect the mayor. The Congress has 13 votes including 11 corporators, one MLA and a MLC, while BJP has 16 members including two MPs and three MLCs and the JD(S) has 6 votes including one MLA. The KJP has 4 members, there is one SDPI member and two independents. The magic number is 22.
Till now, the Congress had the support of JD(S), independents and a SDPI member. But this time the situation has changed with more mayoral aspirants in the fray. Senior corporators S.K. Mariyappa is a strong contender for the post in the Congress. But the party leadership has asked him to evolve strategies at his own risk, sources said. The BJP is projecting its corporator S.S. Satish for the mayoral post.