BJP-led ZP adopts resolution to supersede Haleyangadi gram panchayat

Mangaluru: BJP used its clear majority in Dakshina Kannada zilla panchayat to brush aside vociferous protest from opposition Congress to adopt a resolution superseding Haleyangadi gram panchayat. The resolution adopted by a 21-16 vote in favour at the 17th general body meeting of zilla panchayat generated tense moments with Congress members staging a dharna before the president and raising slogans against the saffron party.
When the matter listed in the action taken report on decisions taken at the previous general body meeting came up for discussion, local zilla panchayat member Vinod Kumar said the elected body of the gram panchayat had flouted all possible norms that it was supposed to discharge under the Karnataka (Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj) Act, 1993. The panchayat has not conducted mandatory gram sabhas and has not met the aspirations of people, he said.
Former ZP president Mamata Gatti of Congress implored ZP president Meenakshi Shantigodu to set up a team of ZP members who could visit the panchayat and ascertain facts first hand. Superseding an elected body on the basis of brute majority is democratically wrong step and this issue should not be politicised, she said.
With both BJP and Congress standing their ground and Meenakshi remaining a mute spectator to sloganeering, ruling BJP members staged a walkout demanding that she move the resolution and put it to vote. Chairpersons of two standing committees – Anitha Hemanath Shetty and U B Ibrahim of Congress -- too joined their party members from their place on the podium in staging a dharna urging the president not to adopt the resolution.
After much discussion, arguments and counter-arguments from BJP and Congress members, Meenakshi reluctantly put the resolution to vote.