The seven-month-old alliance between the Congress and the JD(S) in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike seems to be strained with the JD(S) MLA from Mahalakshmi Layout K Gopalaiah warning the Congress of serious consequences at the Palike Council meeting on Saturday.
Gopalaiah admonished the Congress for not taking JD(S) into confidence while finalising the Palike budget and for ‘discrimination’ in budgetary allocations. The MLA, the husband of Deputy Mayor Hemalatha Gopalaiah, warned, “The JD(S) MLAs and the 14 BBMP corporators are not opportunists. We shook hands with the Congress to give a better administration to the City. If you want this alliance to continue, you must take us into confidence before taking any decision.”
Flaying the budget, Gopalaiah said it could have been a model budget had the Congress taken note of suggestions by the JD(S).
He said, “A particular ward has been given grants of Rs 22 crore while others have been ignored. At least, they could have sanctioned the wards with JD(S) members 50% of the grants allocated to the wards represented by Congress members.
“You (Mayor Manjunatha Reddy) will be solely responsible for the outcome if you forget to honour the terms and conditions of the alliance.” “You (Congress) could be ruling in the State but in the BBMP our share is also equal, which the Congress leaders should not forget,” Gopalaiah warned.
The BJP members welcomed the jibe by thumping the table while the Congress members were dumbfounded by the allegations. Corporator Bhadre Gowda pointed out that the budget copy did not mention the name of the JD(S) state president (Kumaraswamy).
Later speaking to reporters, Gopalaiah said he has suggested the Mayor to incorporate 14 points in the budget. “There is a hike of 24% in the property tax, which should be brought down to 8% . At least, Rs 50 crore should have been allocated for the lake conservation,” he said.
Although the BJP has maximum number of corporators who outnumbered Congress and the JD(S) members put together in the Council, they could not come to power in the BBMP as they fell short of numbers in the electoral college comprising the legislators and the MPs.
