Siddaramaiah pitches for Padmavathi as BBMP mayor

Bengaluru: With the mayoral polls slated for Wednesday, hectic lobbying is on within the Congress in the corridors of Vidhana Soudha and at the residences of corporators’ political godfathers.

With the mayor’s post reserved for the backward class (woman), three women corporatrs from the Congress are in the fray. Of them, Prakashnagar ward corporator Padmavathi is said to be the frontrunner. She is a third-time corporator and has the ability to run the house unlike other fresh faces.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, senior leader Ramalinga Reddy and KPCC working president Dinesh Gundurao have put their lot behind Ms Padmavathi.

The two other corporators are P. Sowmya Shivakumar from Shantinagar ward and Lavanya Ganesh Reddy from Lingarajpuram ward. But the Congress ally JD(S) is favouring Sowmya’s candidature. The names will, however, be announced only on Wednesday.

The Congress leaders are holding a final meeting on Tuesday to finalise the names for the posts of mayor and standing committee chairmen. Though the BJP emerged as the single largest party in the BBMP, the voting power vested with MLAs, MPs and MLCs made a difference to the Congress, which also tied up with the JD(S) and independents to come to power. Last year, Madiwala corporator Manjunath Reddy emerged as Mayor, while Hemalatha from the JD(S) was his deputy.

Although BJP leader R. Ashok was interested in tying up with the JD(S) and independents to capture power in the BBMP, party state president B.S. Yeddyurappa did not endorse the alliance. Mr Yeddyurappa was of the opinion that since the Congress is in power in the state, the government would not release funds for the Palike for garbage clearance, which is a major problem, and other infrastructure projects, sources said.

It is likely to be a smooth affair for the Congress during the mayoral polls. The deputy mayor post will go to Anand, who is from the JD(S). The 12 standing committees will be equally shared by the Congress, JD(S) and independents.

The BBMP and Regional Commissioner have already made elaborate arrangements for election. BJP sources said that it would be foolish to grab power in the BBMP with less than two years to go for the assembly elections in the state. The BJP will lose its face in the process. The party leaders are now focusing on the assembly polls, they said.