The power politics in Mandya City Municipal Council (CMC) took a new twist on Monday with a few Congress councillors questioning the genuineness of the whip issued to them.
A few supporters of Housing Minister M.H. Ambareesh have decided to remove municipal president B. Siddaraju and vice-president Chandrakala Shivaram through the no-confidence motion route on May 14.
Belur Somashekar, supporter of Mr. Ambareesh, issued the whip on Sunday to Congress councillors urging them to vote against Mr. Siddaraju and Ms. Shivaram during the no-confidence motion.
“The issue was not brought to the notice of the party’s district president M.S. Atmananda,” T.S. Sathyananda, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) member, told The Hindu.
He said that the whip could only be issued by either KPCC president G. Parameshwara or Mr. Atmananda.
Breach
Keeping the party president in dark was against the culture, tradition and discipline of the Congress, he said.
Meanwhile, some councillors who received the whip, who are loyal to Mr. Siddaraju, are suspecting the genuineness of the whips.
The party has four vice-presidents in Mandya district. Of them, Rame Gowda, who is from rural area, has issued the whip on his letterhead. Also, the whip does not contain any seal, a councillor said.
No intimation
The party had not consulted Mr. Atmananda about the developments pertaining to issuance of whip either through fax or telephone call even after 24 hours, a veteran Congress leader, said.
The Mandya CMC has 35 members, including 15 from the ruling Congress.
The Janata Dal (Secular), which has nine members in the House, has also issued the whip to its members and instructed them to vote in favour of the no-confidence motion.
The lone BJP councillor and 10 Independents in the CMC have not yet announced their stand.
Mr. Siddaraju and Ms. Shivaram assumed charge on September 17, 2013 and since then, they have been refusing to step down from their posts after serving for 18 months, as per the agreement.
