The Deccan Herald 17.08.2010
TMC poll on 21st, members on a junket to Delhi
K Narasimhamurthy, Kolar, August 16, DH News Service:
A rat race has ensued for the posts of City Municpal Council president and vice president soon after the Government notified the reservation in the Gazette on July 29. The elections will take place on August 21.
The post of the president is reserved for a woman from the general category while the vice-president too can be from the same category. Most members of the Council are therefore enthused to compete in the elections. The personal expectations of the members and the prestige of the leaders are only spicing up the competition continuously.
The City Municpal Council has a membership of 35, thereby forcing a requirement of 19 members for majority.
The post of the president is being eyed by all of the nine woman members. But winning the support of other members is not in the fortune of all of them.
With the objective of gaining control over the local associations, Legislator R Varthur Prakash is planning to win the support of the members by taking some of them on a trip to New Delhi. Many members took the flight to the national capital on the night of the Independence Day itself. A visit to Agra is on the schedule.
Some of the woman members are bringing along their husbands too. Twelve members are part of the team travelling to New Delhi, including Manjula, V K Rajesh, Naseer Ahmed, Amaravati, Krishnappa, Raut Shankarappa, Kusuma Ramachandra, Somashekhar, Sriram, Kantamma and Jyoti. President V Prakash, however, is not a part of the tour, it is learnt.
Congress MLCs Naseer Ahmed and V R Sudarshan, who have been highly critical of the move of Varthur Prakash have retaliated by joining hands to start a faction of their own and win both posts. It is said that they too have sent many members on trips.
Former minister K Srinivasa Gowda, who is famed as ‘Varthur Vairi’, too is attempting to start his own group for the election. Although claiming to be a member of the AICC, Srinivasa Gowda is often accused of being a supporter of the BJP during elections. When asked about his campaign strategy this time, however, Gowda preferred to maintain silence.
The race for the top posts in the Council will certainly gain speed if all the Congress members join hands and together attempt for a victory.
JD(S) support
Even as the rumours over Legislator Varthur Prakash joining JD(S) in September are doing rounds, sources said H D Kumaraswamy has instructed the party activists to support the members of the Vartur faction.
Of the five JD(S) members in the Town Municipality, V Ravindra and Muraligowda are loyalists while Routhshankarappa, Radha and C Tyagaraj are identified as the legislators’ supporters. However, Tyagaraj has returned to JD(S). Now, including Varthur’s vote, his faction has 13 votes and members Jareena Taj and Nasareen are also likely to join the Varthur faction, taking the total number of votes to 15.
However, Jaffer, Madhusoodhan Kumar, Nayaz, Shafi and Chand Pasha have deflected from the legislator’s group following dissidence.
Minister K H Muniyappa is likely to support Sudharshan and Naseer as they are loyal to the party.
In such case, Varthur’s faction will face tough competition. The deflection among the different party members have added to the curiosity about the elections for which only four days are left.
