Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore   

Mayor's post: Cong. leaders leave it to High Command

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE Nov. 27. The meeting of City Congress MLAs, MLCs, block presidents, and chairmen of boards and corporations held here on Wednesday to discuss the November 30 mayoral polls left the decision to the Congress High Command.

Sources told The Hindu that none of the members gave any individual opinion about the contenders. "We leave it to the High Command to chose the Mayor and don't have anything to say personally," the participants reportedly told the Congress leaders.

The meeting was convened after the Food and Civil Supplies Minister, Ramalinga Reddy, and the AICC Secretary, B.K.Hariprasad, wanted grass-roots level opinion.

Besides Mr. Ramalinga Reddy and Mr. Hariprasad, the MLAs, including M.R.Sitaram, R.V.Devaraj, A.Krishnappa, and Muniswamy, the MLCs, Saleem Ahmed and K.B.Munivenkatareddy, and chairmen of several boards and corporations attended the meeting.

Though there are over six serious contenders for the coveted post, two of them, the ruling party leader, C.M.Nagaraj, and the Azadnagar corporator, B.T.Srinivas Murthy, are locked in a keen contest.

While Mr. Nagaraj claims to have the support of the Home Minister, Mallikarjun Kharge, and says he should be given a chance because he had missed it narrowly last time, all other leaders are backing Mr. Murthy, sources said. Both belong to the Vokkaliga community and are eligible to contest under the General category.

The leaders are scheduled to meet Congress corporators on Thursday morning to gather their opinion, sources said.

Meanwhile, there are rumours that the Town Planning Committee Chairman, M.Lakshminarayana, who is also vying for the post, may contest as a rebel candidate. He joined the Congress along with the Binnypet MLA, V.Somanna, who disassociated himself from the party during the Kanakapura bypoll.

However, when contacted Mr. Lakshminarayana brushed aside the rumours and said he had won on a Congress ticket and would abide by the High Command's decision.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• Mayor's post: Cong. leaders leave it to High Command
• Row over main Oppn. status in BMP Council surfaces again

Copyright © 2002, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu