JOIN USThe BJP’s corporators-elect and other leaders staged an agitation in front of the Town Hall on Friday morning to protest the Congress’ move to grab power in the Council despite losing the mandate of the people in the BBMP polls.
Around the same time, three ministers from Bengaluru —Ramalinga Reddy, Dinesh Gundu Rao and Krishna Byre Gowda — convened a press conference at the Congress party’s office to counter the BJP and defend its move to form an alliance with the JD(S) to take control of the BBMP Council.
Here are some excerpts from the interaction...
Q. The Congress is accused of insulting the mandate of the people in the BBMP polls.
A. As per the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1994, besides corporators even legislators and MPs have the right to vote in the BBMP Council. We didn’t enact the law. The rule has been in place since 1994. The magic number for electing the mayor becomes 131 and our alliance has the numbers.
Q: The Congress also has been accused of horse-trading.
A: The Congress has never indulged in horse-trading. It is the domain of the BJP. The ‘horses’ were brought by the BJP from Ballari in 2008. Crores of rupees were spent by the party to make the Opposition legislators resign to increase their tally in the Assembly.
Q: Will you abide by the JD-S’ condition to drop the party’s agenda of restructuring the BBMP?
A: The bill pertaining to the division of the BBMP is with the President. It may take years before a decision is taken whether to give assent to the bill or send it back (the leaders evaded giving a direct answer).
Q: Congress MLC V S Ugrappa deliberately transferred his name from Pavagad to Bengaluru just to vote in the BBMP Council.
A: That is not so. It was not planned. Our MLCs Naseer Ahmed and Lakshminarayana recently transferred their names in the voters’ list from Bengaluru to Kolar and Tumakuru, respectively. If we had a vested interest, we would have asked them to retain their names in Bengaluru.
Q: The BJP has termed the alliance between the Congress and JD (S) unholy.
A: Definitely not. We have the numbers. The KJP merged with the BJP and dislodged H D Kumaraswamy from the post of leader of the Opposition in the Assembly. Was that an ethical move? The BJP should answer that before making comments about others.
DH News Service