TUMAKURU: The Tumakuru mayoral elections on Friday caused more heartburn for the Congress in the Old Mysore region as the party failed to bag the mayor or the deputy mayor posts.The lone nominee from BJP, BG Krishnappa, was chosen as the mayor, while Nazeema Bi of JDS was elected his deputy unopposed.Earlier this week, Congress had suffered a setback after it had to settle for the deputy mayor’s post in the Mysuru City Corporation. With the mayor’s post in Tumakuru reserved for ST category, both JDS and Congress -- who were in alliance -- could not bag the top post as they did not have an eligible candidate.
While the outgoing mayor belonged to Congress, the deputy mayor was from JDS. Both the parties had moved the High Court as the mayor’s post was reserved for ST category for the second time in four years. But, the HC gave its nod for the reservation.
In the 35-member corporation, the BJP has 12 members, Congress and JDS 10 each, while three are Independents. BJP has two more votes of an MLA and MP.In the zilla panchayat polls, JDS bagged the president’s post, while the BJP candidate was elected vice-president.
In the 2018 Assembly polls, Congress was pushed to the third spot in Tumakuru city with JDS coming a close second to BJP. “The trend may continue as Congress has lost steam... JDS may gain momentum as an alternative to BJP,” observed Puttalinagaiah, an analyst.