A Commerce graduate, Gowtham Kumar is known to have a very strong RSS background and it is this clout, sources say, which helped him earn the coveted post.
Bengaluru: Gowtham Kumar Jain, a two-time corporator from the Jogupalya ward has been elected as the new mayor of Bengaluru.
A Commerce graduate, Gowtham Kumar is known to have a very strong RSS background and it is this clout, sources say, which helped him earn the coveted post.
Gowtham Kumar is married to Rekha Jain and has two children. He has an elder brother. He lost is father some time back and has an aged mother.
He has been in the administrative field for ten years now. He is seen to be a very strong influence in the Shantinagar area and is also seen as a person who can take everyone into confidence.
This is precisely why the RSS backed him. Sources also say that he might be asked to contest the next assembly elections from Shantinagar on a BJP ticket.
Gowtham Kumar won the mayoral elections with 129 votes, while his opponent Sathyanarayana from Congress won only 112 votes.
While he was elected, there were protests outside the BBMP headquarters led by Vatal Nagaraj, a pro-Kannada activist because they feel that a Kannadiga should have been made the mayor instead of a Jain.
Leader of opposition in BBMP, Padmanabha Reddy was also another contender, but BJP chose to field Gautam because of his proximity with RSS.
Sources also reveal that Gautam is very close to state BJP president Nalin Kumar Kateel and he had a prominent role to field him. The victory is also being seen as a major victory for the state BJP president against the faction of chief minister BS Yediyurappa.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is the administrative body responsible for civic amenities and some infrastructural assets of the Greater Bangalore metropolitan area. It is the fourth
largest Municipal Corporation in India being responsible for a population of 6.8 million in an area of 741 km.