Resort politics seems to have percolated down to local bodies and now, the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation which has to elect the new Mayor and Deputy Mayor on June 20 is witnessing it.
Ahead of the polls, the BJP councillors have been ‘shifted’ to a resort at Dandeli in Uttara Kannada district. The development comes a day after president of Hubballi-Dharwad Mahanagar Zilla unit Sanjay Kapatkar made allegations about offers being made to BJP and Independent councillors by the Opposition.
The reason for the sudden development is the potential threat the BJP seems to be facing from former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, who switched over from the BJP to the Congress.
While the Congress camp has strongly denied the allegations that it is trying to lure councillors for staking claim to power in the municipal council, the BJP does not want to take any chance.
By Saturday evening, all the BJP councillors had reached the Dandeli resort. When The Hindu called one of the councillors, he said they came to Dandeli on Saturday following a direction from the party office-bearers and would return to Hubballi on the election day. He said all BJP councillors were united.
The BJP has been in power in Hubballi-Dharwad for the 15 years and presently is in a comfortable position to retain its power. As a precautionary measure, the BJP councillors have been issued a whip by Mr. Kapatkar.
In the 82-member municipal council, the BJP has 39 seats, the Congress 33, the AIMIM three, the JD(S) one, and there are six Independents.
After the council polls last year, the BJP rebel candidate Durgamma Bijwad, who got elected as an Independent, joined the BJP soon after the results.
In the run-up to the Mayor’s election in 2022, two more Independents, Kishan Belagavi and Chandrika Mestri, joined the BJP, taking the party’s tally to 42.
As per law, MLAs, MLCs, and MP have voting rights during the mayoral elections. For the current term, the Mayor’s post is reserved for women (General) and the Deputy Mayor’s post for the general category.
According to the councillors, any decision on the party’s candidates would be taken only after the return of Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi who is presently abroad and is scheduled to return before the elections.
