JOIN USBBMP standing panel polls held amid high drama
Deferred thrice for a lack of quorum in the past two months, elections to the BBMP's 12 standing committees were held amid high drama on Saturday.
Amid dissent and high drama, as many as 131 corporators were elected to various standing committees at the election held at the BBMP headquarters in NR Square.
Elections to pick the chairpersons of the committees will be held next week in the presence of the mayor, according to BBMP sources.
Assuming power after a four-year hiatus despite being the largest party at the BBMP, the BJP was under intense pressure from the corporators eyeing important posts.
“We (BJP) were not in power for the past four years, despite being the largest party at the council. We have got an opportunity towards the end and so, there is pressure from all our corporators. After a detailed discussion with the senior leaders from all parties, including MLAs of the respective standing committees, we will have six BJP members, four Congress and one JD(S) corporator as members. Of the four independent corporators, one has been accommodated in one of the committees,” said Munindar Kumar, leader of the ruling party at the BBMP council.
While only 10 members have been elected to the accounts committee, officials said re-election will be held later to fill the vacancies.
Announcing the unanimous selection of corporators, regional commissioner Dr N V Prasad said: “A writ petition pertaining to the elections to the standing committees is pending before the High Court and the election results are subject to a final order by the honourable court.”
Determined to get their favourite corporators a berth in these standing committees, leaders of all the three major parties held hectic parleys until late Friday night.
In fact, the BJP MLAs from Bengaluru, including Aravind Limbavali, Satish Reddy, Ravi Subramanya, S Raghu and M Krishnappa, had to work hard to quell the rebellion with just minutes left for filing nominations on Saturday. The selection process witnessed intense competition and lobbying for the post of Taxation and Finance committee chairpersons. However, according to sources, L Kumaraswamy -representing the Kumaraswamy Layout ward- was seen to be the frontrunner for the post. Top BJP leaders have also been trying to make way for the supporters of rebel MLAs who recently joined the BJP and won the by-polls, besides trying their best to mollify the original BJP leaders. Leaving the leaders tensed, despite their last-minute negotiation, some of the committees witnessed more nominations than expected. Yet again, leaders succeeded in convincing corporators to withdraw their nominations at the last minute.
Women turn emotional
The elections witnessed sentimental moments when a couple of women corporators became emotional on losing their chance to get elected to the committees.
Mahalakshmi H Ravindra, corporator from Hosahalli (ward 124), was in tears after missing out. “I never aspired for any posts. But the leaders themselves had assured me when I had contested for the post of deputy mayor. But now they did not give me a chance. I do not want to comment on the party’s decision,” she said.
Similar was the case with Nethra Pallavi, representing Attur ward in Yelahanka limits. When the ward-level works committee witnessed intense competition with 15 corporators in the fray, BJP representatives persuaded three corporators to pull out.
However, Nethra refused to withdraw her nomination despite leaders like Satish Reddy, MLC Narayana Swamy, Mayor Goutham Kumar, Leader of the Ruling Party Munindra Kumar and senior corporator Umesh Shetty trying to talk her out of the race.
In fact, Nethra refused to fill in the withdrawal form given by her party colleagues. But she pulled out when Bommanahalli MLA Satish Reddy said: “Everybody has to obey the party’s decision and there will be opportunities in future.”