Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SP)

Udupi, Jul 9: President of the taluk panchayat here, Nalini Pradeep Rao, has resigned from her post. She had tendered written resignation letter on June 19. Deputy commissioner of the district, Hephsiba Rani Korlapati, said that the resignation of Nalini has been accepted as she did not withdraw her resignation during the grace period of 15 days granted to her to withdraw it.

At the same time, taluk panchayat vice president, Rajendra Pandubettu, has also handed over his resignation letter. People are eager to know who will replace these two persons.

When giving these posts three years back, BJP leaders had arrived an internal agreement as per which both the president and vice president would share half a term of 30 months each and leave the posts in favour of party nominee at the end of this term. Although this 30-month term ended a few months back, because of Lok Sabha election, the same was postponed.

Out of 43 members of the taluk panchayat here, 27 represent the BJP and the remaining 14 are from the Congress. Out of these 27, 26 members were first time members, and Neeta Gururaj from Padubidri is the only member who was elected for the second time. Therefore, many believe that Neeta will get the nod.

As per the reservation criterion, the post of the president has been earmarked for woman candidate from general category and the post of the deputy has been reserved for general category. Therefore, all 27 BJP members are eligible for this post.