Status quo remained in the Bangalore Turf Club (BTC) licence issue after a meeting between a club representative and chief minister Siddaramaiah didn’t produce any immediate solution to the matter.
Following a meeting on Friday with the BTC officials, the chief minister had called for another discussion on Monday. Dr K M Srinivasa Gowda, a former chairman of the club, met Siddaramaiah to discuss the matter.
A club official said that with the chief minister busy with the Assembly, he has sought more time to look into the case. “The chief minister wants to study the suggestions made by the finance and law departments on the licence before taking a decision. The club members are now waiting for a response from the government on Tuesday. On the whole, it was a fruitful meeting and the club is hopeful of gaining a solution” he said.
The government had expressed its displeasure in BTC’s indifferent approach towards couple of its demands.
“It is true that the chief minister was not happy with BTC’s responses to certain instructions of the government. The episode of the ouster of Harindra Shetty has been discussed with proper explantations with the chief minister. The government has sought for a broad-based membership system at the club. We have decided to consider this aspect. The club is planning to be more accommodative as far as membership is concerned,” a senior steward said.
The current scenario has put the racing activities at the BTC on hold for over a week. While the races scheduled in the first week of the month were cancelled, there was no off-course betting for Ooty races on June 2. Ooty races are scheduled on Thursday and Friday and it remains to be seen if the off-course betting takes place this week.
In case such a situation arises, the Mysore Race Club is expected to witness more people from here for betting on both the race days.
Bengaluru races are next scheduled on June 10 and 11.
Published 05 June 2017, 19:55 IST