BJP gets thumbs up
BJP’s victory in the BBMP poll is an electoral hat-trick for the party in Bangalore.
After having bagged 17 of the 28 assembly segments in Bangalore in the 2008 polls and making a clean sweep of the all the three Lok Sabha seats in the State capital last year, the party now holds the reins of power in the first ever BBMP Council.
A majority of Bangaloreans will now have a BJP candidate as their MP, their MLA and their councillor. For the party, the result is the outcome of a carefully crafted political strategy. Firstly, it did not totally sideline long-time grassroot party workers while distributing tickets. As a result the BJP faced much lesser rebel trouble compared to its principal opponent, the Congress.
Noticing that voters tend to tilt towards the party in power, the BJP worked out its electoral game plan - a slew of promises from easing traffic congestion to sops for slum-dwellers were announced.
The party also focussed extensively on the newly added wards to the BBMP from the seven City Municipal Council, one Town Municipal Council and 110 villages. People might not have beleived what the leaders promised. But they decided to go with the ruling party probably hoping that it is better to have corporators belonging to the ruling party in the State.
There was a sudden show of unity in the party during the run-up to the elections. Legislators campaigned fairly sincerely for the candidates in their respective Assembly segments. The CM went on a whirlwind tour of Bangalore and also criss-crossed the City outskirts.
The result, a majority of the voters in the newly added wards have voted the BJP. It has bagged all eight wards coming under Bommanahalli segment, all four in Yelahanka segment, eight out of nine in K R Pura, five out nine in Rajarajeshwarinagar and five out of eight wards in Dasarahalli. The poor show for the party was in Mahadevapura, represented by Higher Education Minister Aravind Limbavali, where the party could bag only one seat out of eight.
Banking on the faithful vote bank in core-areas of Bangalore, the party has scored a tally of 112 out of 198 wards. With 29 members from State legislators and Parliament representing the BBMP areas already in its kitty, the total strength of the BJP in the city council will add up to 141, a comfortable majority.
With Bangaloreans having voted for the BJP in three elections in as many years, the party will now have no excuses when it comes to focusing on developmental issues in Bangalore.
DH News Service
