Mysore/Mysuru: BJP District Spokesman M.A. Mohan has criticised the decision to cancel the last Council meeting of Mayor Shivakumar, whose tenure ended on Sept. 5, 2023, and the justification provided by another former Mayor, Ayub Khan.

Speaking at the BJP city unit office, Mohan stated, “According to the Karnataka Municipal Corporations (KMC) Act, the Mayor is legally empowered to convene, reschedule and cancel Council meetings. Officers, including the Commissioner, in Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) do not have the authority to make decisions in these matters. Even former Mayor Ayub Khan is well aware of the Mayor’s jurisdiction.”

Nevertheless, Ayub Khan’s defence of the Government’s decision to cancel the meeting, citing a meeting of officers in Bengaluru called by the Urban Development Minister, was perceived by Mohan as farcical. He regretted that the MCC Commissioner made the decision independently, disregarding the Mayor’s higher office.

Mohan also questioned the timing of the Minister’s meeting, scheduled on the same day as the last Council meeting of Mayor Shivakumar’s term, with the Dasara festival just a month away.

Referring to Ayub Khan’s statement about explaining why sitting Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha should be defeated in the 2024 Parliamentary election and KPCC Spokesperson M. Lakshmana’s criticism of Simha’s contributions to Mysuru, Mohan sought to compare Simha’s contributions with the contributions of Congress MPs to Mysuru from M. Shankraiah (the first MP elected from erstwhile Mysore Constituency in the inaugural Lok Sabha elections of 1957) to A.H. Vishwanath, who represented the Constituency until 2014.

Mohan asserted that any voter in the Constituency could provide an extensive list of Simha’s contributions to Mysuru over the past nine years since his election in 2014.

This list includes efforts to improve train and surface transport connectivity, the Expressway between Mysuru and Bengaluru, the development of Mysuru Airport, and various                                          other projects.

He questioned the fairness of CM Siddharamaiah’s call to defeat Simha in the elections, highlighting Simha’s demand for reasons behind such a call. Mohan challenged Congress leaders to provide answers to these questions. BJP leaders Somasundar, Shashidhar and others were present.