Kharge’s ‘no show’ helps BJP bag Kalaburagi mayoral posts
According to information received here, the Congress and BJP held hectic parleys on Wednesday on mayoral elections.
Published: 24th March 2023 10:05 AM | Last Updated: 24th March 2023 10:05 AM | A+A A-
Image used for representational purpose only. (Photo | PTI)
KALABURAGI : The absence of All-India Congress Committee (AICC) president Mallikarjun Kharge during elections to the posts of mayor and deputy mayor of Kalaburagi Mahanagara Palike (KMP) here on Thursday proved costly for the Congress, which lost both posts by one vote.
While BJP candidates Vishal Darge (Ward 46) and Shivanand Piste (Ward 25) were elected mayor and deputy mayor, respectively, by securing 33 votes each. They defeated Congress candidate Prakash Kapanoor (Ward 12) and Congress backed JDS candidate Vijayalakshmi (Ward 12) by just one vote. They
secured 32 votes.
In the 55-member KMP council, the Congress has 27 seats, BJP 22, JDS 4, and two independents. Of them, one from BJP and an independent corporator were disqualified, taking the strength of corporators eligible to vote to 53.
The Congress and JDS had an understanding on supporting each other for mayoral posts. Besides JDS’ support, the Congress had Rajya Sabha Member Mallikarjun Kharge, Gulbarga-North MLA Kaneez Fatima and MLC Chandrashekhar Patil Humnabad as its voters, taking its strength to 34.The BJP has 22 corporators, 14 other elected representatives, including MP Umesh Jadhav, two MLAs and nine MLCs, as its voters.
According to information received here, the Congress and BJP held hectic parleys on Wednesday on mayoral elections. Kharge, who was in Bengaluru on Wednesday, was ready to visit Kalaburagi to participate in the elections if the authorities adopted the “toss” rule to declare the winners in case of a tie. But the local unit of the party allegedly told him that JDS corporator Alimuddin Patel (Ward 42) is “missing” and there are remote chances of the Congress winning the top posts.
As Kharge felt that his visit to Kalaburagi would not help his party win the mayoral posts, he flew back to Delhi.But to Congress’ misfortune, BJP MLC Laxman Savadi did not participate in the mayoral elections.
This helped BJP bag the two coveted posts. Addressing reporters, Gulbarga-South BJP MLA Dattatreya Patil Revoor said that his party won the mayoral posts after a gap of 12 years.
