Four former BBMP mayors lose their wards to delimitation, revision of reservation

The draft gazette notification released on Monday to announce the revision of reservation in the 198 BBMP wards has come as a shock for four former mayors belonging to the former Congress-JD(S) coalition regime.

Apart from them, several senior Congress corporators will also be losing their wards to the revision. Former Congress mayors G Padmavathi (Prakashnagar ward) and Gangambike Mallikarjun (Jayanagar) have already lost their wards to delimitation.

The revised reservations notified by the Urban Development Department (UDD) will dislodge B N Manjunatha Reddy from Madiwala ward and Sampath Kumar from Devara Jeevanahalli (DJ Halli) since the two wards have been shifted from general category to wards reserved for women.

Jogupalya, represented by outgoing BJP mayor Goutham Kumar, has been left unchanged. Manorayanapalya, represented by BBMP Leader of Opposition Abdul Wajid, has been made a reserved ward for women with a new name: Chamundi Nagar.

The reservation in Shankarmath, the ward represented by another Congress leader M Shivaraju, has been changed from backward class-A to backward class-B.

Wajid said the state government was trying to silence the Congress in the BBMP through the changes in the reservation list. "The change has been effected with the intention of hurting the prospects of prominent Congress leaders who were raising their voice against scams in the BBMP," he said.

Disappointment in BJP

Even the BJP representatives were not spared by the draft notification. R S Sathyanarayana must vacate his Basavanagudi ward to a woman.

Sathyanarayana, known as Katte Sathya, was unable to conceal his disappointment.

"I have struggled to build the BJP from the time there were only seven corporators from the party and secured victory five times. Even the Congress governments never changed the reservation of Basavanagudi. I'm sad to see my own party doing this," he said.

'Like a surgical strike'

Gangambike said delimitation and reversing reservation were politically motivated. “Jayanagar was the first layout formed soon after Independence and it’s the biggest layout in the city,” she said.

“Now, the BJP has merged Jayanagar with other wards. It is like a surgical strike. They have targeted strong leaders. The delimitation hasn’t been done geographically. The government hasn’t followed the roster.”

Padmavathi said the BJP reduced seven wards into five in the name of delimitation, which is unscientific. “They haven’t taken into account infrastructure like stormwater drains and roads during the delimitation. The exercise has been carried out to benefit the government,” she said.