Bengaluru: If all had gone in favour of the Congress, the polls to the civic body — BBMP would have been held at the end of April. But due to the Congress rout in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, elections to the civic body will be put off by at least two or three years, with the Congress citing some reason or the other.
According to Congress sources, CM Siddaramaiah and city in-charge minister Ramalinga Reddy are upset with the Lok Sabha poll results, where they have lost all three seats in Bengaluru. The results have sent jitters among the Congress leaders and they are hesitant to go to the polls immediately. The Congress party is worried about a debacle if there are April polls. Already, they have been out of power in the BBMP for eight long years.
For the first time, the BJP took the reins of BBMP in 2010 and prior to that, BBMP was ruled by administrators for three years. The state government appointed administrator as caretakers of the BBMP, as the government was deciding on the delimitation process and expansion of the Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BMP) into Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) by merging seven city municipal corporations, one town municipal corporation and 110 villages, added sources.
The Congress feels that holding power in the BBMP would help combat Assembly and Lok Sabha polls too, as the corporators who are the foot soldiers of the party would work better to garner votes.
Meanwhile, the city in-charge minister Ramalinga Reddy has sent a letter to the chief minister on bifurcating Bengaluru for better administration following the report submitted by former chief secretary A. Ravindra. Mr. Reddy states that Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi have been divided into municipal corporations for better administration. Even a city like London has been divided into 32 boroughs for better administration.
Following the poll debacle, the Congress has not allowed the BBMP to discuss the issue of division of Bengaluru. Aparently this is to put off the polls.
