Belagavi (Karnataka): After a gap of five years, a Kannada-speaking citizen, Savita Kamble, was on Thursday elected unopposed as the new Mayor of Belagavi, while Anand Chauhan has been given the post of Deputy Mayor.
Election for the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor was conducted under Regional Commissioner, Sanjay Shettenna, in the Belagavi Municipal Corporation office hall. The last Kannada-speaking Mayor was Basavaraj Chikladinni, who was elected in 2018.
Sanjay Shettennavar announced Kamble's name as the new Mayor after Lakshmi Rathore, another candidate from the BJP, withdrew her nomination. Kamble worked as a general laborer in several companies before becoming a BJP activist.
Meanwhile, BJP's Anand Chauhan won by a margin of 19 votes against Congress's Jyoti Kadolkar. Chauhan got 39 votes while Kadolkar polled 20 votes. For the second term, Marathi speakers won the post of Deputy Mayor.
With the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP has made a firm plan to woo the Kannada and Maratha communities, by duly appointing a Kannada-speaking Mayor and a Marathi-speaking Deputy Mayor.
"I am grateful to the people of Belagavi for giving me this opportunity. I will speed up the development work of Belagavi city with everyone's cooperation," Kamble said.
BJP MP Mangala Angadi, MLA Abhay Patil, former Karnataka minister Murugesha Nirani, and former MLA Anil Benake among others were present during the announcement.
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