Bangalore, Sep 5 (DHNS): Basavanagudi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) corporator B S Sathyanarayana, popularly known as Katte Sathya, was on Wednesday sworn in as the 47th mayor of Bangalore. Byatarayanapura Congress corporator Indira was elected deputy mayor.
Regional Commissioner Gaurav Gupta, who conducted the election, announced the mayor and deputy mayor to cheering supporters.
A four-time corporator from Basavanagudi, Katte Sathya’s name was doing the rounds for almost a year. He faced a tough competition from BJP corporators like B R Nanjundappa, C K Ramamurthy and H Ravindra. Sathya told mediapersons that improvement of roads, lakes and storm water drains, systematic garbage disposal and efficient revenue recovery and advertisement policies “are among his priorities.”
For the first time, the mayor and his deputy are from different parties. They will serve only eight months. While Sathya has a strong RSS background, Indira comes from a family of freedom fighters. Her grandfather was jailed for participating in the Quit India movement.
New Mayor vows to treat all wards equally
The new Mayor, B S Sathyanarayana, has said that strengthening administration to complete many pending projects will be his priority.
Addressing reporters after being elected as Mayor, Katte Sathya, as he is popularly known, said he may not have enough time but he would ensure that the BBMP machinery works at a faster pace.
He vowed that he would work for the overall growth of the City even though the mandate for him is to serve only for eight months.
“Development of roads, lakes in the City, garbage clearance and improvement of storm water drains would be my priority. The poor financial condition warrants for a better revenue collection system, proper advertisement policy and bringing funds from State and the Central governments,” said Sathya.
He assured the corporators that he would rise above the party line for the development of the City and treat all the wards equally. Regarding the budget, he said if required he may propose a supplementary budget to accommodate some of his ambitious proposals.
Hard work pays off
Spending 23 years in the electoral politics finally paid off Katte Sathya, when he was sworn in as the 47th Mayor of Bangalore. A staunch RSS man, Katte joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1983 and set up Katte Balaga to launch a pro-Kannada movement, which earned him huge popularity in Basavanagudi. This helped him enter electoral politics in 1990. The four-time corporator from Basavanagudi never saw defeat in the last 23 years.