Opposition firm on referring trifurcation bill to select committee

"Distribution of funds is not proportionate to the population in each of the 198 wards. The BBMP is not able to administer the city properly after 98 wards were added".

To persuade the opposition parties from referring the bill pertaining to the trifurcation of BBMP to a select committee, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah held a meeting with leaders of the Opposition BJP and JD(S) in the Council Chairman D.H. Shankaramurthy’s chamber on Thursday.

The meeting, however fell through as the combined opposition members remained firm on its decision.

While Opposition leader K.S. Eshwarappa said that the opposition is firm on referring the Bill to the select committee, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the opposition was setting a bad precedent by doing this.

"Such a thing has never happened in 32 years of my political career. Let them defeat the bill if they wish," he told reporters after a one and half hour meeting.

Stating that there are instances of several contentious bills being referred to Joint committees in the past, the CM said referring bills to a select committee had never happened.

"They say there is ambiguity about the bill. Let them discuss it and we are ready to reply," he said adding that Bengaluru is the only city that has one corporation for a population of over a crore. “London has 38 boroughs and Delhi and Kolkatta have more than one corporation,” he said.

He further went on to say that the distribution of funds is not proportionate to the population in each of the 198 wards. The BBMP is not able to administer the city properly after 98 wards were added to the erstwhile 100 wards.

“There are several complaints and we need to set this right,” he said stating that the government prepared the bill taking all these things into consideration.

Elections not a worry

The CM, who said the government is not afraid of elections, asserted: "We are confident of winning elections whenever they are held."

He said referring the bill to a select committee and elections are different issues.

Apart from the Council Chairman, CM, floor leader S R Patil and Opposition leader S Eshwarappa, Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa, Deputy chairman Puttanna, Ministers H K Patil and TB Jayachandra, Mlcs Basvaraj Horatti and ruling party whip in the council Venkatesh attended the meeting.

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