Political activity firms up with HC verdict

MANGALORE: Political activities gathered momentum in Dakshina Kannada district with the high court vacating the stay on conducting elections for the posts of the president and vice-president of the zilla panchayat.
The number of aspirants is logically more this time as the post of the president and vice-president has been reserved for the general and backward communities and minorities A categories respectively.As this is the last cycle of the 20-months of the panchayat in the five-year term of the body will ensure keen competition among the members.
Absence of a clear majority for BJP and Congress, cracks in the JD(S) and dissident activities in each group promise to make the elections more complex and intriguing.
Congress and BJP have 15 seats each and JD(S) has five members in the 35-member House. However, JD(S) is a divided house and two of its members have identified themselves with BJP and three with Congress.
Interestingly, DK Zilla Panchayat is the only district body in the state where the local units of BJP and JD(S) continue to have a political understanding, notwithstanding the `political divorce' between the two parties at the state level for nearly a year now.
In the last term, K P Sucharitha Shetty of JD(S) and Jayashri Kodandoor of BJP functioned as the head and deputy head. At present Venkat Dambekodi of BJP is heading the body as the caretaker president.
Though Congress appears to have an upper hand in the number game, the internecine battle cost the party dearly in the last term when Shetty of JD(S) was elected the president as rebel Congress member Santhosh Kumar Bhandary supported him during the crucial voting.
This time the BJP is trying to retain the two JD (S) members in its fold and take full advantage of the internal differences in the Congress. It has elected Congress member G Sadananda Malli as the chairman of the standing committee on agriculture and industry and the JD(S) member Rajashri Hegde as the chairman of the standing committee on education and health.
Congress members Bhandary and Malli, sources in the party said, are having serious differences with DCC president B Ramanath Rai and this is likely to prove advantageous for BJP.
According to the power-sharing pact between the BJP and JD(S), the post of president has to go to the BJP. However, finalizing the candidate for the president's post is not a cakewalk for the party as the number of aspirants is growing by the day.
Congress too is nurturing hopes of capturing the body with the support of three JD(S) members. It will have the support of 18 members against 17 of BJP provided any one among its 15 members does not switch loyalty. Party leaders are finalizing a strategy to keep its members united and also take advantage of the possible dissident activities in BJP.
dinesh.nayak@timesgroup.com