There was high drama inside the chamber of BJP councillor Padmanabha Reddy an hour before the mayoral polls on Tuesday.
Reddy, who had filed his nomination for the post, was urged to withdraw from the race at a closed-door meeting held by Chikkaballapur BJP MP B N Bachhe Gowda, Bengaluru BJP MLAs Uday Garudachar, S R Vishwanath, Satish Reddy and former MLA
Muniraju, who tried to convince him about the party’s decision.
Half an hour after the meeting, Revenue Minister R Ashoka, along with party general secretary Ravi Kumar, Bengaluru South MLA Krishnappa and Bengaluru Central MP P C Mohan, arrived at Padmanabha Reddy’s cabin to address the media.
Soon after he sat on the chair, Ashoka moved the name board of Reddy aside, categorically conveying the decision of the party.
“We had asked two people to file nominations for the mayoral post. This decision was taken as a precautionary measure so as not to lose out to the opposition. However, our first choice was Goutham Kumar. Padmanabha Reddy will withdraw his nomination.”
Goutham Kumar was subsequently elected the mayor.
Later, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa attributed the triumph at BBMP to state BJP president Nalin Kumar Kateel. Speaking to reporters in Mysuru, he said it was the first victory under Kateel.
Interestingly, BSY had on Monday remarked that he had no role in the selection of the mayoral candidate and that it was up to Kateel.
No buzz for Cong, JD(s)
Contrary to the dramatic turn of events on the BJP side, there was no buzz among former coalition partners Congress and JD(S). Ramalinga Reddy, Soumya Reddy and K J George were seen casually moving around Congress ruling party leader Abdul Wajid’s chamber.
A handful of JD(S) corporators were at a closed-door meeting at Nethra Narayan’s chamber.
However, despite the standoff by JD(S) members over the fight against the BJP, Manjula N Swamy from Laggere wards and K Devadas from BTM Layout wards boycotted the elections, saying the polls were being held in an unconstitutional way that cost two votes for the coalition candidates.
Whip issued
According to Congress and JD(S) corporators, a whip was issued by the respective high commands to cast their votes for R S Sathyanarayan (Congress) who was nominated for the mayoral post, and Gangamma (JD-S) who was nominated for the deputy mayor’s post.