Opposition stalls BBMP split, but Congress rules

Bengaluru: In a major victory for the combined Opposition, the Legislative Council on Monday referred the Karnataka Municipal Corporations (Amendment) Bill, 2015 to a select committee, thus throwing a spanner in the state government’s plans to divide BBMP ahead of its polls.

The upper House witnessed high decibel drama for about an hour. But matters were taken out of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s hands when Chairman D H Shankaramurthy read out a letter from the leader of Opposition K S Eshwarappa and JD (S) leader Basavaraj Horatti that the proposed amendment be referred to a select committee under rule 116, asked the House to vote and announced it was passed through a voice vote.

A visibly upset Mr. Siddaramaiah described the move as “unconstitutional” and charged the Opposition with setting a bad precedent. With the amendment bill referred to the select committee, the Congress government takes control of Bengaluru to tackle maintenance of roads, drains, solid waste management, collection of property tax, and maintenance of schools and hospitals through the administrator T. M. Vijay Bhaskar and BBMP commissioner G. Kumar Naik till elections are held to the civic body.

To the select

The amendment Bill, passed by the Legislative Assembly, to be scrutinised by a select committee; members not yet constituted The upshot: Move to divide BBMP on hold.

Polls by October?

With the division bench of the Karnataka High Court directing the state government and State Election Commission to adhere to the 74th amendment to the Constitution, polls must be held before October 17, 2015. If the select committee does not go public on the amendment bill, the state government can seek more time to conduct elections. The decision on polls depends on the SC as five former BJP councillors move the apex court through a special leave petition.