While the Janata Dal (Secular) and the Congress are cementing their ties in the State ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, there is a big question mark over the coalition partners coming together in the hung Mysuru Zilla Panchayat. In fact, JD(S) members here prefer to go with the BJP instead.
S.R. Nandeesh, brother of Minister for Tourism and Sericulture S.R. Mahesh, was appointed the in-charge president of the ZP on Thursday. He has favoured continuing with the JD(S)-BJP alliance for the remainder of the local body’s term.
The JD(S) and the BJP joined hands to assume control of the 49-member Mysuru ZP after the 2016 elections threw up a hung verdict in which the Congress emerged the single largest party with 23 seats. However, the JD(S), which had bagged 18 seats, joined hands with the BJP and took the post of ZP president while the alliance partner got the vice-president post.
The resignation of Nayeema Sultana and Nataraj as president and vice-president, respectively, after the conclusion of the first 30 months of their tenure in office paved the way for Mr. Nandeesh, chairperson of the Social Justice Committee of the zilla panchayat, being appointed interim president. “If the vice-president had not resigned, he would have automatically become president. But since the vice-president too resigned, the post of in-charge president goes to the chief of the Social Justice Committee,” a ZP official said.
BJP leaders said Mr. Nataraj resigned in the hope that the alliance with the JD(S) would continue. Speaking to The Hindu , Mr. Nandeesh said the JD(S) members in the local body were strongly opposed to joining hands with the Congress. “We want to continue our ties with the BJP. When the JD(S) forged a tie-up with the BJP after the mixed verdict in the zilla panchayat elections of 2016, the understanding was for the entire term. It would be dishonest to go back on our word midway through the term now,” he said, also adding that Mr. Mahesh shared this view.
However, Mysuru District Congress Committee president B.J. Vijaykumar expressed confidence that the JD(S) and the Congress would team up in the ZP. “KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao had spoken in this regard to Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, who has given his consent,” he claimed.
Playing it safe, Minister for Higher Education and district in-charge G.T. Deve Gowda, said things would become clear only after the party leadership took a decision.
JD(S) members in the local body have always been against a tie-up with the Congress. Recently, members of the two parties were involved in a feud following the outbursts of MLA for Periyapatna K. Mahadev against Congress leaders, which went viral. Furious, Congress workers had even lodged a complaint with former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to take up the matter with the JD(S) leadership.
