The BJP is touted to have an upper hand in Tuesday’s elections to the posts to Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Bengaluru as the Congress–Janata Dal (Secular) combine in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) council is only going to put up a symbolic fight by fielding candidates.
Senior Congress leaders said they were not interested in maintaining the coalition. “The Lok Sabha elections have shown us that the alliance was counter-productive. This prompted the Congress to break away from the JD(S). This happened naturally with the fall of the coalition government headed by H.D. Kumaraswamy. We are expecting midterm polls any time. We don’t want be brought down by the JD(S), either at State level or in the BBMP council,” a leader said.
Funds reallocated
That apart, soon after taking charge, the BJP government reallocated funds earmarked to constituencies represented by Congress and JD(S) MLAs and distributed them to segments represented by its party MLAs.
“There is a larger fund crunch situation in the State, following floods in north Karnataka. Mr. Yediyurappa has retained the Bengaluru Development portfolio apart from Finance. Even if the Congress–JD(S) combine try hard and retain power in the BBMP council, it is definite that funding will be poor,” a source said.
With the BBMP council polls to be held in 2020, the BJP taking charge of the council is more of a blessing in disguise for the Congress. “We will not face anti-incumbency in 2020, and the BJP will have to answer the citizens with its achievements in comparison with the four-year administration of the Congress–JD(S) combine,” a senior Congress leader said.
Speculation was rife on Monday about postponement of the polls. Though Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa claimed the polls would be put off, Regional Commissioner Harsh Gupta maintained they would be held as scheduled on Tuesday.
Sources claimed that the attempt to put off the elections was because the BJP was yet to finalise its candidates. The party, which is in the Opposition in the BBMP council, has the numbers to take charge of the council as five city MLAs, who are part of the electoral college, have been disqualified.
Following Mr. Yediyurappa’s statement in Shivamogga that the mayoral polls would be held along with those to 12 standing committees, the Additional Chief Secretary of the Urban Development Department shot off a letter to Regional Commissioner Harsh Gupta directing him to put off the polls and reschedule them along with the elections to the standing committees. He also cited the High Court’s interim order staying elections to eight standing committees.
Mr. Gupta, however, wrote back stating that the elections would be held as scheduled on Tuesday. He told The Hindu that the polls were scheduled as per the rules and there was no necessity to reschedule them. The mayoral polls will be held along with the elections to four standing committees — Taxation and Finance, Health, Accounts, and Markets.
