Congress-JD(S) Camp set to govern Bengaluru for a third consecutive year
ET Bureau|
Updated: Sep 27, 2017, 11.22 AM IST
BENGALURU: With just a day left for the city's mayoral election, the stage is set for the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition to govern the city for a third consecutive year.
JD(S) leaders who had expressed displeasure over the alliance with Congress (the two parties jointly administered Bengaluru for two years), came around to continue the tie-up. Like in the previous year, the JD(S) would be getting its share: it will get the deputy mayor's post and will head four standing committees.
The last two mayoral polls witnessed high drama on issues surrounding eligibility of voters in the Council. The BJP, the single largest party in the council, sat in the Opposition as it fell short of numbers in the Council (which was then 269 members strong, including MPs, MLAs and MLCs from Bengaluru).
This time around, the total number of eligible voters is 266, of which the Congress-JD(S)-Independent combination have the majority. Even as the Congress and JD(S) have brokered a truce and are confident of continuing the alliance for another year, the BJP is crying foul.
Opposition leader in the BBMP Council, Padmanabha Reddy said: "The Congress gover nment is abusing its power by letting ineligible legislative council members to vote. Five MLCs in the voters list had given false information to the Legislative Council to claim allow ances worth lakhs of rupees by submitting fake bills. Also, these MLCs submit their hometown addresses to claim allowances but continue to vote in Mayor elections in Bengaluru, which is illegal," he alleged.
Reddy had filed a complaint before the Election Commission of India (ECI) six months ago against eight Congress MLCs who he dubbed "mobile voters" -who had voted in the previous mayoral election.
The JD(S), however, appears set to be in the treasury benches for another year. Vrishabhavathi ward's JD(S) corporator SP Hemalatha, who was deputy mayor in 2015, said the differences between the two parties were sorted. "Our main contention against the Congress was that they were not involving us in the decision-making process" she said. The Congress has apparently agreed to form a coordination committee to effectively engage JD(S) corporators in decision-making henceforth.
The Congress on its part is confident of governing the BBMP for the next three years despite losing the BBMP Council polls two years ago."We had no issues with the JD(S) in past two years and will not have any issues in the future too," Congress corporator MK Gunashekar said.
JD(S) leaders who had expressed displeasure over the alliance with Congress (the two parties jointly administered Bengaluru for two years), came around to continue the tie-up. Like in the previous year, the JD(S) would be getting its share: it will get the deputy mayor's post and will head four standing committees.
The last two mayoral polls witnessed high drama on issues surrounding eligibility of voters in the Council. The BJP, the single largest party in the council, sat in the Opposition as it fell short of numbers in the Council (which was then 269 members strong, including MPs, MLAs and MLCs from Bengaluru).
This time around, the total number of eligible voters is 266, of which the Congress-JD(S)-Independent combination have the majority. Even as the Congress and JD(S) have brokered a truce and are confident of continuing the alliance for another year, the BJP is crying foul.
Opposition leader in the BBMP Council, Padmanabha Reddy said: "The Congress gover nment is abusing its power by letting ineligible legislative council members to vote. Five MLCs in the voters list had given false information to the Legislative Council to claim allow ances worth lakhs of rupees by submitting fake bills. Also, these MLCs submit their hometown addresses to claim allowances but continue to vote in Mayor elections in Bengaluru, which is illegal," he alleged.
Reddy had filed a complaint before the Election Commission of India (ECI) six months ago against eight Congress MLCs who he dubbed "mobile voters" -who had voted in the previous mayoral election.
The JD(S), however, appears set to be in the treasury benches for another year. Vrishabhavathi ward's JD(S) corporator SP Hemalatha, who was deputy mayor in 2015, said the differences between the two parties were sorted. "Our main contention against the Congress was that they were not involving us in the decision-making process" she said. The Congress has apparently agreed to form a coordination committee to effectively engage JD(S) corporators in decision-making henceforth.
The Congress on its part is confident of governing the BBMP for the next three years despite losing the BBMP Council polls two years ago."We had no issues with the JD(S) in past two years and will not have any issues in the future too," Congress corporator MK Gunashekar said.
