The Indian Express                18.04.2013

BJP’s Sarita Choudhary is Mayor of South corporation

BSP councillor Sahi Ram is deputy mayor, Standing Committee members elected.

With the backing of its allies, the BJP has again come to power in the South corporation with Sarita Choudhary as mayor of the corporation.

Choudhary, a senior BJP leader, defeated first-time Congress councillor Abhishekh Dutt by 16 votes.

Bhujan Samaj Party's councillor Sahi Ram was elected deputy mayor. The seat has been reserved for BSP councillor as part of an arrangement between the BSP and the BJP. BSP candidate Sahi Ram defeated Congress' Praveen Rana by nine votes.

The BJP is the single largest party in South Municipal Corporation with 44 councillors. It has come to power with the support of BSP, INLD, JD-U and Independents. This time, NCP's Ramvir Singh Bidhuri voted against the Congress.

Besides the 104 councillors, Members of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assembly also voted for their party's candidates. Union Minister Ajay Maken did not turn up to cast his vote.

MLA Mukesh Sharma came late and could not cast vote for the post of Mayor. From the Congress, MP Sandeep Dikshit, Ramesh Kumar, Parvez Hashmi and Mahabal Mishra came to cast their votes.

MLAs Arvinder Singh Lovely and Mukesh Sharma from the Congress cast their votes. From the BJP, MLAs Harsharan Singh Balli, Satprakash Rana and V K Malhotra also cast votes.

The House also elected three members for the Standing Committee — Rajesh Gehlot and Subhash Arya from the BJP and Nutan Kochar from the Congress.

Later, Delhi BJP chief Vijay Goel met Mayor Sarita Choudhary and expressed his confidence in the BJP candidates.

Goel said despite the efforts of the Congress to give "a tough fight to the BJP", the party had emerged victorious

"This victory clearly indicates that all the parties are united against the anti-people policies of the Congress," he said. Talking to Newsline, Mayor Choudhary said her focus would remain on the development of villages and empowerment of women.

The Hindu                       18.04.2013

Councillors now eye Vidhana Soudha

Seven councillors have filed their nomination papers for the Assembly elections.

Our councillors have set their sights on bigger roles. Several councillors, mostly seniors, have been nursing a secret ambition of furthering their political careers by contesting in the May 5 Assembly elections.

So far, seven councillors have filed their nominations to contest in the Assembly elections.

While five of these have been given ticket by the various political parties, one has filed nomination as a rebel candidate and another as an Independent candidate. Four councillors, who had entered the poll fray, are contesting on a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket, including senior councillor Padmanabha Reddy, who hopped from the Janata Dal (Secular) to the BJP recently.

Mayor’s ambitions

Leading the pack of councillors aspiring to enter the portals of the Vidhana Soudha is Mayor D. Venkatesh Murthy himself, who has been given the BJP ticket to contest from the Shantinagar constituency.

Mr. Murthy told The Hindu he would file his nomination papers on Wednesday.

Councillor Muniratna Naidu has been given a Congress ticket though he is yet to file his nomination papers.

The seven councillors who have filed nominations include former Deputy Mayor S. Harish (Mahalakshmi Layout constituency – BJP), Kacharakanahalli councillor Padmanabha Reddy (Sarvajna Nagar – BJP), Chamarajpet councillor B.V. Ganesh (Chamarajpet – BJP), Hoody councillor B.A. Basavaraj (K.R. Puram – Congress) and Vijayanagar councillor H. Ravindra (Govindarajanagar – BJP).

Subhash Nagar councillor Mallesh has filed his nomination to contest from Gandhinagar constituency as a rebel candidate from the Congress, while Hegganahalli councillor M.B. Govinde Gowda is keen on contesting from Dasarahalli constituency as an independent candidate.

As an Independent

There are several councillors who have been ‘overlooked’ by their respective parties. Prominent among these is Hanumanthnagar councillor K. Chandrashekar, who was earlier Basavanagudi MLA. Sources said that he may contest once against from the same constituency as an Independent candidate.

According to sources, the other seniors who are still trying their luck at getting the ticket from their respective parties include the former Mayor S.K. Nataraj (BJP), Nandini Layout councillor M. Nagaraj (Congress), Siddapura councillor M. Udayshankar (Congress), Pulikeshinagar councillor Abdul Rakeeb Zakir (Congress), Ruling Party Leader N. Nagaraju (BJP), D.J. Halli councillor Sampath Raj (Congress), Rajarajeshwarinagar councillor G.H. Ramachandra (BJP), Pattabhiramanagar councillor C.K. Ramamurthy (BJP) and Janata Dal (Secular) Floor Leader Thimme Gowda. Sources added that these councillors were not bothered about the anti-defection law. Citing the case of Mr. Padmanabha Reddy, who moved to BJP from JD(S), sources said that MLA aspirants may not think twice about switching to another party if promised a ticket. Mr. Mallesh, who has filed his nomination as a rebel candidate, has already been offered the ticket by the Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP). “I will take a call on whether to join the party in a day or two,” he said.