The elected councillors of the BJP remained absent with a view to boycotting the general body meeting of the Kalaburagi City Corporation on Thursday in protest against various decisions of Mayor Vishal Dhargi. The Mayor also belongs to the BJP.
Of the BJP’s 23 elected councillors, only the Mayor remained present in the meeting.
And, all the 27 councillors of the Congress attended the meeting.
Though Mr. Dhargi tried to justify stating that the BJP councillors remained absent due to their personal reasons, the BJP councillors, who spoke to presspersons, said that the Mayor never consults them but takes decisions unilaterally.
They said that of the 34 items listed in the agenda of the general body meeting, most of them were proposed by the Congress councillors, while a mere four or five of the items proposed by the BJP councillors were considered.
Before proceeding to take up the agenda of the general body meeting, the Mayor, the councillors, Kalaburagi South MLA Allamprabhu Patil and MLCs Thippannappa Kamaknoor and Sunil Vallyapure lauded the scientists of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3.
And, a heated argument broke out between Mr. Vallyapure and Leader of the Opposition in the City Corporation Shaikh Ajmal Ahmed Gola when the latter asked the Mayor whether his party [BJP] councillors cannot tolerate a Dalit Mayor in office.
Raising objection to Mr. Gola’s comment, Mr. Vallyapure asked him not to talk about caste and politicise the issue. “We are here to discuss the development of the city,” he said.
Mr. Gola, in his reply, said that if the BJP councillors were really concerned about the development of the issue, they would have not boycotted the meeting.
“During the elections of the city corporation, the BJP leaders ‘outsourced’ MLCs and left no stone unturned to capture the posts of the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor and now they are boycotting the general body meeting. Only the Mayor can reveal the intentions of the BJP councillors,” Mr. Gola added.
Councillors Syed Ahmed said that the meeting was convened to discuss various issues, including the salaries of pourakarmikas, the garbage loaders and drivers, which was due for the last few months. The BJP State leaders speak about development, while the BJP councillors never bother about development, he said.
Mr. Vallyapure objected to Mr. Ahmed asking him not to speak about his State leaders. It is not a political party meeting, he retorted.
Meanwhile, officials were taken to task by Congress councillors and the Mayor when they failed to provide complete details and satisfactory replies to their queries.
