The storm raised by the public spat between two senior IAS officers in Mysuru amidst the fight against the pandemic is yet to subside even as the Mysuru City Corporation councillors took to the streets over the issue, on Friday.
Though Chief Secretary Ravi Kumar paid a visit to the city and held prolonged discussion with the officials, the focus was on tackling COVID-19.
Shilpa Nag, Commissioner, Mysuru City Corporation (MCC), who created a flutter by announcing her ‘resignation’ from the civil services citing harassment and humiliation by Deputy Commissioner Rohini Sindhuri, was late by over 45 minutes to the meeting.
Prior to the meeting Mr. Ravi Kumar denied having received any resignation letter while post-meeting the officials did not speak to the media. The Chief Secretary held extensive discussion on the management of the pandemic and later visited some of the hospitals in the city. Later, Mr. Ravi Kumar, Regional Commissioner G.C. Prakash and Ms. Shilpa Nag were closeted for nearly 20 minutes before leaving the venue.
Meanwhile, councillors of the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) led by in-charge Mayor Anwar Baig held a demonstration in the city urging the government to retain Ms. Shilpa Nag as Commissioner.
There were similar demonstrations by civic workers including pourakarmikas while “I stand with our Commissioner – madam Shilpa Nag’’ was trending on social media. But there were as many supporters for Ms. Sindhuri too while most sought for a closure of their public spat and concentrate on handling the pandemic.
Earlier in the day, Ms. Shilpa Nag was conspicuous by her absence at the function held to celebrate the birth anniversary of Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar – described as model ruler who laid the foundations for modern Mysuru - though Ms. Sindhuri was present.
The latter reiterated her stance and told mediapersons that she had only sought rectification of figures as there was a mismatch in data emerging from the war room and the MCC. Ms. Sindhuri also stood by her decision to seek details on how the CSR contributions were utilised adding that any grievance has to be resolved through proper channels.
District in-charge Minister S.T. Somashekar said that the focus was on reducing the COVID-19 cases in Mysuru district and that the tussle between the two IAS officers would be resolved by the Chief Secretary. Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa was also apprised of it.
The Congress was quick to corner the Minister for his remarks and KPCC working president R. Dhruvanarayan sought Mr. Somashekar’s resignation stating that he, had failed to rein in the officials and ensure greater coordination between them as a result of which there was mismanagement on the COVID-19 front in Mysuru district.
