KALABURAGI: In a major embarassment to the Congress in AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge’s home district, the BJP has managed to win the fiercely fought Kalaburagi Managara Palike election for the very first time. Vishal Dargi was elected as mayor and Shivananda Pisti was elected deputy mayor on Thursday.
The BJP’s MLA Dattatreya Patil Revoor was said to be instrumental in thwarting all the plans of the Congress and JD(S) to gain power. The mayoral election was conducted by Regional Commissioner Krishna Bajpai at the town hall here. This is for the first time that the BJP has managed to come to power on its own strength.
During the election held on Thursday, 65 members from the BJP, Congress and JD(S) were present. While the BJP managed 33 votes, the Congress and JD(S) together managed 32 votes. It is said that MLA Dattatreya Patil Revoor had worked hard to ensure the BJP’s win in the mayoral election.
While 35 votes were required for simple majority, the Congress had 34 votes including its 27 council members, one MLA, one MLC, Parliament member Mallikarjun Kharge and the four JD(S) members. However, JD(S) member Alimoiuddin Patel was absent and unreachable on the phone and Kharge did not turn up to vote.
The council election was held in 2021, but the Congress had approached the high court questioning the reservation roster and the inclusion of the names of some BJP MLCs in the list of voters. After one-and-half years, the court had allowed the conduct of the mayoral election.
“This victory has given us more strength in the Kalyana Karnataka region. The Congress had been ruling this city corporation for about 40 years, but failed to meet people’s expectations. This was a vote for change”, Dattatreya Patil Revoor said.
Twelve years ago, Dattatreya’s father Chandrashekar Patil Revoor had managed to get a tea seller woman become the BJP mayor in the council.