GP seat goes for Rs 1 crore for village deity’s sake?

TUMAKURU: While several Gram Panchayat seats are being auctioned across the state, this one could be the biggest of them all. A video from Bettahalli village under the Paduvagere Gram Panchayat limits in Kunigal taluk is creating ripples in social media sites, as a general seat has allegedly gone for Rs 1 crore.

A Bengaluru-based industrialist is said to have promised the villagers that he would pay the money for the renovation of Pattalamma temple in the village. The suspicion of auctioning all the three seats, including the one reserved for SC (woman) and another for ST (woman), arose when banners came up around the village mentioning the estimated cost of the temple’s renovation at Rs 1.35 crore.

For the general category seats, two aspirants -- Jayaram and Shekar -- filed their nominations and do not face much competition. For the other two seats, one person each has filed the nomination and will get elected unanimously. “Both Jayaram and Shekar hail from the village, but are residents of Bengaluru. Jayaram has been made a trustee of the temple,” sources said.

Assistant Commissioner Ajay visited the village on Saturday and filed a report, saying there was no such auction. “We have collected the PAN cards of all the four candidates and the account details of the temple’s trust. If we find anything illegal, action will be taken,” he said. 

Villagers reportedly told him, “Jayaram cannot grab the seat with such high stakes. But Shekar, who is politically influential, spread rumours as he was jealous of the former winning people’s favour.”
Zilla Panchayat CEO Shubha Kalyan too clarified that there was no auction.