JOIN USThe Congress is likely to retain the mayor’s post with the JD(S) on Thursday agreeing to continue the alliance in the BBMP Council.
The parties, however, are yet to finalise the power-sharing agreement. Though Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy held talks with JD(S) state president H D Kumaraswamy, they could not arrive at a conclusion. The mayoral election is scheduled for September 28.
The JD(S) did some tough bargaining. The party has demanded five posts of standing committee chairman, instead of the existing four.
And the party wants lucrative standing committees such as taxation and finance, in addition to four other important committees of town planning and improvement, major public works, establishment & administrative reforms and public health. This is over and above the post of deputy mayor.
A source in the JD(S) said that Kumaraswamy also demanded the Congress to increase funds for the deputy mayor.
He wants the funds to be increased from Rs 50 crore to Rs 150 crore and allocate more funds for development of wards represented by party corporaters.
Reddy told reporters that the alliance will continue. “A decision (on sharing of power) will be taken after discussing with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and KPCC president G Parameshwara,” he added.
While the post of mayor is reserved for an SC candidate, the deputy mayor post can be held by a woman from the general category.
From the Congress, Devarajeevanahalli councillor R Sampath Raj and Subhash Nagar councillor L Govindaraju are in the race for the mayor’s post.
Of the JD(S)’s eight women corporators, four are eyeing the deputy mayor’s post. They are Ramila Umashankar (Kaveripura), Netra Narayan (Kaval Byrasandra), Padmavathi Narasimhamurthy (Rajagopalnagar) and Umme Salma (Kushalnagar).