Mayoral polls end after hours of high drama

Behind-the-scenes manoeuvring by BJP central leadership ensures election of RSS-backed Goutham Kumar

The election of Jogupalya councillor M. Goutham Kumar as the city Mayor was the culmination of many hours of high drama and speculation. Political analysts noted that this development has come as a setback to Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa and Revenue Minister R. Ashok as the BJP high command ensured that the candidate it approved of was elected.

Late on Monday night, Bengaluru MLAs, MPs, and a few senior councillors met to decide who the next Mayor should be. While Mr. Ashok backed L. Srinivas (Kumaraswamy Layout councillor), Deputy Chief Minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan supported Manjunath Raju (Kadu Malleshwara councillor). Housing Minister V. Somanna was pushing for Mahalakshmi H. Ravindra (Hosahalli), while Bengaluru Central MP P.C. Mohan was in favour of Mr. Kumar. Two city MLAs — S.R. Vishwanath and Satish Reddy — backed Opposition Leader Padmanabha Reddy.

According to sources, BJP State president Nalin Kumar Kateel put forth a formula for the selection of the Mayoral candidate. He said the next Mayor should be from an Assembly segment not represented by the BJP. This eliminated all but two in the fray — Mr. Padmanabha Reddy from Sarvagna Nagar and Mr. Kumar from Shanthinagar Assembly constituency.

At this juncture, most Ministers and MLAs reportedly backed Mr. Reddy. According to sources, the meeting was inconclusive as the party high command was not keen on Mr. Reddy. Mr. Yediyurappa is also said to have put his weight behind him.

On Tuesday morning, as intense lobbying continued, a majority of the city BJP MLAs asked Mr. Reddy to file his nomination. This was an attempt to build pressure on the party to accept his candidature. The MLAs and Ministers, including Mr. Ashok, reportedly tried to convince Mr. Kumar to withdraw his candidature. But, given that he had the backing of the high command and the RSS, he refused and stood firm. The high command was firm on Mr. Kumar’s candidature as they pointed that Mr. Reddy was a party-hopper, while Mr. Kumar was from the RSS stable.

For the post of Deputy Mayor, the BJP high command chose RSS leader Gurumurthy Reddy from H.S.R. Layout under Bommanahalli constituency represented by MLA Satish Reddy. However, the MLAs took objection to this choice and proposed Mr. Satish Reddy-backed Ramamohan Raju from Bommanahalli ward for the post. Eventually, Mr. Raju was elected.

BSY denies rift

Meanwhile, Mr. Yediyurappa denied any rift in the party over the selection of candidates and expressed his happiness over the outcome of the elections. Speaking to reporters in Mysuru, he said there was consensus among party leaders on the selection of candidates.