CM defends move to split BBMP for administrative convenience

Koppal/Hosapete: Defending the move to split Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike into three or more corporations, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday said that the city has a population of 1.5 crore and it is difficult to manage such a large population and area with one corporation and hence a decision was made for administrative convenience.

The then Urban Development minister Suresh Kumar had planned to split the civic body.

During my first stint as chief minister, I had constituted a committee to split the BBMP into three or more. After we returned to power, we continued the process and are committed to implement it through the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act.

When asked about the Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka’s ‘quarter Bengaluru’ mocking the Congress government’s Greater Bengaluru proposal, Siddaramaiah hit back saying, “Ashoka only knows quarter”

Replying to a query on conviction to Gangavathi MLA Janardhana Reddy in an illegal mining case, Siddaramaiah said, “Reddy has committed crime and he is paying for it. Our padayatre to Ballari protesting the illegal mining by Reddy and others have finally paid off.”

Asserting that the Congress will win Gangavathi bypoll, the chief minister said, “Once the bypoll is announced, the Congress party leadership will decide on a candidate. The winnable candidate will be given the ticket.”

Hosapete convention

On Sadhana Samavesha, the event to mark two years of the Congress government in power, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the preparations for the May 20 event in Hosapete going on in full swing and about three lakh people are expected to attend it.

“One lakh title deeds will be distributed to eligible beneficiaries whose “undocumented habitations” have been declared revenue villages, and there will be programmes by various other departments as well. We will try to
present our achievements of the last two years to the people, he told reporters.

‘BJP copying Karnataka model’

Taking a dig at the BJP for opposing the state government’s guarantee schemes, Siddaramaiah said, “They (BJP) opposed our guarantee schemes and are now copying our model. Karnataka has become a model in the country for successfully implementing five guarantee schemes and along with it we have taken up development works.”

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president D K Shivakumar had
earlier hinted that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi would attend the event.