Parties caught between BBMP polls and legislature session

Many senior leaders busy preparing for elections, may skip Belagavi meet

With elections to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike round the corner, all the three major political parties – the Congress, the BJP and the JD(S) – are now shifting their focus to poll preparations. They do not appear to be keen on attending the monsoon session of the legislature scheduled to commence on June 29 in Belagavi.

Senior leaders of the three parties and legislators representing Bengaluru are already working overtime preparing for the possible polls in July last week.

 They have lined up a series of meetings in the coming days as part of poll preparations. Many of them are, therefore, likely to skip the session at the Suvarna Soudha in Belagavi. But they are not ready to be quoted. Legislators from the North Karnataka districts, however, are not averse to the session as they hope to debate issues pertaining to their region.

The State Election Commission is expected to announce the calendar of events for the polls shortly. It is likely to hold the elections in the last week of July.

 The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike elections are crucial for all the three parties. It is a matter of prestige for the ruling Congress to win the polls.

The BJP will slug it out to retain its hold over Bengaluru, while the JD(S) aims to spread its wings in the State capital.The monsoon session of the legislature is scheduled to be held for 20 working days. The initial 10 days will be held in Belagavi (June 29 to July 10) and the remaining 10 days will be held at the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru (July 13 to 24).

The government has to hold the session as it has to obtain the approval of the legislature for the full State budget for the 2015-16 financial year.

Vote-on-account

The legislature had earlier given an vote-on-account approval for the budget for four months from April this year.

“The session is clashing with the elections. Preparations for the elections involve a lot of work.

And attending the session is equally important. I may have to shuttle between Bengaluru and Belagavi during the session in Belagavi,” Congress MLA from Yeshwantpur assembly constituency S T Somashekar said.BJP MLA from Hebbal assembly constituency, Jagadish Kumar, said he was planning to hold ward-wise meeting with the party workers from next week.

“I know it is not possible to do both (attending the session and preparing for the polls in Bengaluru). But I have to manage it somehow,” he added.

Truncated session?

Sources in the legislature said the session in Bengaluru would most likely be cut short due to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike polls.

The government is, therefore, planning to get the appropriate bill seeking approval for the full budget passed in the session at Belagavi, the sources added.