The Congress and the JD(S) have appealed to the Regional Commissioner to postpone the election of members to the 12 standing committees of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), scheduled for Friday. However, Regional Commissioner M.V. Jayanthi, when last checked, had not passed an order rescheduling the polls.
BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad said that unless the polls are rescheduled, they will hold them as scheduled on Friday. However, sources in Congress said that members of both Congress and JD(S) were unlikely to turn up for the elections, forcing the elections to be held at another date.
According to sources, Congress Ministers from the city, K.J. George, Ramalinga Reddy and Dinesh Gundu Rao, held a meeting on Thursday and said that while they were ready to go ahead as planned, the rescheduling was a request from the JD(S).
The Congress, the JD(S) and independents will share the chairperson position of four standing committees each. The JD(S), which had sought the post of Mayor but had to contend with Deputy Mayor’s post, will now get the chairperson seat of the crucial Standing Committee on Taxation and Finance this year. The chairperson of the committee will present the budget for the civic body. However, the Congress, sources said, was wary of giving up the chairperson position of the crucial finance committee, as they wanted to claim credit for the budget that will be presented in March 2018, months before the Assembly polls, but finally relented as the JD(S) was adamant over the issue.