In last-ditch effort, BJP urges independents to skip polls

'There will be magic tomorrow,' says a confident Ananth Kumar

 A day before Friday’s mayoral polls, the BJP kept its fingers crossed, hoping for some “absentees” in the Congress-JD(S)-independents alliance so that it could scrape through in the number game to take control of the civic body.

The BJP, which emerged as the single largest party in the BBMP elections, falls short of five votes to reach the required number of 131 to control the BBMP Council. The Congress-JD(S)-independents combine holds an upper hand. The BJP leaders exuded confidence of winning the prestigious elections, proclaiming that its candidates will be mayor and deputy mayor. Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilisers, H N Ananth Kumar, told reporters in New Delhi: “Wait. There will be magic tomorrow.” When asked about the BJP’s strategy, he said, “We are not doing any strategy. We have people’s mandate.”

R Ashoka, the BJP’s in-charge for the polls, showed similar confidence. “It will be our mayor who will head the BBMP Council,” he said. The Congress-JD(S) alliance, he went on, is on “a shaky ground and will collapse at the last minute.” So, what explains the BJP’s confidence? Sources said some BJP leaders had contacted the independents, urging them to remain neutral in the polls. Some corporators-elect of the Congress and the JD(S) were also contacted with a request to skip the polls citing health grounds or other reasons.

In a last-ditch effort, the BJP is said to have made an emotional appeal to the corporators: people will feel insulted if their mandate is bypassed. The BJP has 100 corporators-elect, 13 MLAs, eight MLCs, three Lok Sabha and two Rajya Sabha members. One independent corporator-elect, Mamatha Saravana (Ulsoor ward), one Rajya Sabha MP (Rajeev Chandrasekhar) and one MLC (D U Mallikarjun) are supporting it.

On Thursday, the BJP moved its corporators-elect and legislators, who form the electoral college in the mayoral polls, to the Golden Palms Hotel and Spa, a resort on the outskirts of Bengaluru, “so that everyone could be in one place.” Earlier in the day, the corporators-elect met at the BJP headquarters in Malleswaram. Senior leaders guided them about the voting procedure. Preferential voting system is followed for election to chairpersons of standing committees. An orientation on preferential voting system was also conducted. On Friday morning, they would be taken to the BBMP headquarters where the polls would be held. Three Union ministers, H N Ananth Kumar, M Venkaiah Naidu and D V Sadanada Gowda, who are part of the electoral college, will be in attendance.