The opposition Janata Dal (Secular) in the Mandya City Municipal Council (CMC) is seemingly trying to kill two birds with one stone by taking the advantage of internal bickering in the ruling Congress party.
The party has issued whip to its members in the CMC to vote in favour of the no-confidence motion against the CMC president B. Siddaraju and vice-president Chandrakala Shivaram.
Mr. Siddaraju, a Congressman who won as independent, and Ms. Chandrakala, a Congress leader, were elected as chiefs of the CMC on September 17, 2013. They refused to relinquish the posts after serving for 18 months, as per the agreement. Hence, supporters of the Housing Minister M.H. Ambareesh have decided to move the no-confidence motion on May 14.
The Congress in the district is divided into two groups post Assembly elections. While the leaders identified with the former External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna are supporting Mr. Siddaraju, those identified with Mr. Ambareesh have been trying to remove Mr. Siddaraju.
Whip issued
Mr. Ambareesh’s supporters had recently requested the JD(S) to support them. Subsequently, MP C.S. Puttaraju and MLA N. Cheluvaraya Swamy convened a meeting with the JD(S) councillors here on Saturday and issued whips.
“The party [JD-S] would get chance to share power in CMC, get posts of presidents of standing committees and nominate workers to the Mandya Urban Development Authority (MUDA) if we help the Congress to oust Mr. Siddaraju and Ms. Chandrakala,” Mr. Cheluvara Swamy told the JD(S) councillors.
All the councillors will get 4 copies of whips. The party has also issued whip through speed post, registered post and courier, Mandya JD (S) president D. Ramesh said.
Srirangapatna MLA A.B. Rameshbabu Bandisiddegowda and MLC B. Ramakrishna were present.
