Countdown for Mayoral candidates begins

BANGALORE: With two days remaining for Mayor Sharadamma’s tenure to end, BJP  leaders are gearing up to finalise candidates for Mayor and Deputy Mayor posts. A special meeting will be held on Tuesday in this regard. Elections for the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor will be held on April 26. The term of the incumbent Mayor and Deputy Mayor will end on April 25. This year, Mayor’s post is reserved for 2A category candidate and Deputy Mayor’s post for General category candidate. Sources said for the post of Mayor, councillors from Kuruba, Nekara, Tigala, Madiwala and Devanga community were eligible. D Venkatesh Murthy (Katriguppe ward) who belongs to Kuruba community, is one of the strong contenders for the Mayor’s post. It is said that he has the support of State BJP president K S Eshwarappa. B Somashekhar, second-time councillor from Shakambarinagar, also a member of Kuruba community, is another strong contender. Shanthakumari of Mudalapalya ward, who has the support of Housing Minister V Somanna is also in the race.For the deputy Mayor’s post, aspirants like Munindra Kumar (Jakkur ward), Ashwathnarayana Gowda (Kodigehalli ward) and N Nagaraj (Byrasandra) are among the top contenders.Jayanagar MLA Vijaykumar said that nothing had been finalised. He said that there was a meeting on Tuesday, where Bangalore BJP MLAs, BJP city unit president Subbanna, Bangalore Urban district unit president Sachidananda Murthy, District-in-charge Minister R Ashok and others will be present. “We will finalise the list of candidates and present the same to Eshwarappa and Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda for final approval,” he said.