BJP gets first mayor in Kolhapur, promises ‘janata darbar’ every month

Kolhapur: Second-term corporator Rouparani Nikam was elected Kolhapur's mayor on Friday, a post that was filled after a gap of five years.BJP chose Rouparani, wife of Sangramsinh Nikam, who is a close aide of Rajya Sabha MP Dhananjay Mahadik, for the post reserved for the OBC category. The 48-year-old had served as a member of standing committee, women and child development and education committee member in KMC between 2015 to 2020. She is likely to get a 15-month term before the Mahayuti alliance picks another corporator to be the mayor."I will initiate a 'Mayor at Your Doorstep' initiative. On the 5th day of every month, a 'Janata Darbar' will be conducted in the KMC chowk so that the issues faced by the residents are resolved," she said soon after her election.She added, "Along with the pending merger of fringe villages into Kolhapur municipal limits, garbage, water scarcity, women empowerment-related issues will be solved on priority. I will try to get funds from the state govt to implement good projects for the development of Kolhapur city," The newly-elected corporators of the 81-member house of the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation (KMC) met on Friday and elected the mayor and deputy mayor. The first general body meeting of the corporation was conducted after five years. Jan Surajya Shakti nominee Akshay Jarag was elected the deputy mayor. Nikam and Jarag secured 46 votes each, while the opposition candidates Sachin Shende and Durvas Kadam got 35 votes.Kolhapur district collector Amol Yedge presided over the meeting to elect the mayor and deputy mayor. Despite having fewer numbers in the house, the opposition decided to contest the election. They were banking on a few disgruntled Mahayuti corporators. However, the ruling alliance issued a whip to its members to vote for the official nominees. To avoid any unfavourable results, all 46 corporators of Mahayuti were taken to an undisclosed location on Thursday and were brought directly to the meeting on Friday at 10 am.The corporators from Mahayuti adorned saffron-coloured 'Kolhapuri Phetas' along with their party scarves, whereas the corporators from MahaVikas Aghadi wore 'Gandhi Topi'. The voting by raising hands made it easy for the floor leaders to keep watch on the corporators and avoid any cross voting.