The post of Mayor for Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) has been reserved for a woman from the general category while the post of Deputy Mayor has been set aside for the general category.
Soon after the State government announced the reservation matrix for Mayoral polls in MCC, hectic political activity has begun in the hung civic body, hitherto held by alliance of JD(S) and Congress.
In the 65-member MCC, BJP has 22 members while the Congress has 19 members and the JD(S) has 18 members. One BSP member and five independents make up the rest of the MCC.
The reservation of the post of Mayor for a woman from the general category will not only ensure that a woman will occupy the coveted post for the third successive year in the ensuing term, but also opens up options for realignment of political formations in the hung house.
There are as many as 32 women in the 65-member MCC out which 13 belong to the BJP, 11 to JD(S) and 7 from Congress and 1 from BSP.
After the JD(S) struck an alliance with the Congress in 2018, Congress party’s Pushpalatha Jagannath became the Mayor after which JD(S) corporator Tasneem occupied the post in the second year. As per the terms of the alliance, the Congress candidate should get the post of Mayor in the third year while JD(S) will have its Mayor during the last two years.
But, the souring of ties between JD(S) and Congress at the State level following the fall of the coalition government led by H.D. Kumaraswamy has given an opportunity for the BJP to woo the JD(S). The saffron party, which is ruling in the State, has openly declared that it was looking forward to aligning with the JD(S) in an effort to have the first BJP Mayor in Mysuru.
Minister for Cooperation S.T. Somashekar, who is also the Minister in charge of Mysuru district, said the BJP is open to aligning with the JD(S) and the party will make all efforts needed to have its Mayor in Mysuru.
The JD (S), however, has not made its stand clear. “A meeting of the party workers from Mysuru has been convened in Bengaluru on Sunday, where former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy will address the party workers. A decision on the party’s stand for the Mayoral polls will be taken only after the meeting”, said former Mayor from JD(S) R. Lingappa.
Though most of the JD(S) corporators are in favour of aligning with the BJP, sources in the party said that the five corporators belonging to the minority community in JD(S) are demanding that the post of Mayor be retained with the party if an alliance with BJP becomes inevitable.