 "BJP wins Bengaluru civic polls")
India’s technology hub is the latest gain for the BJP. Earlier this month, the party won 66 civic bodies in Rajasthan and 10 urban local bodies, including two municipal corporations, in Madhya Pradesh. In April, the BJP won the North Municipal Corporation in Delhi, taking over all the three municipal corporations of the National Capital.
“After MP and Rajasthan, the BBMP poll results complete a hat-trick of wins for the BJP. This is a win for politics of development and good governance,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted after his party won 100 seats in the 198-member Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) council. Tuesday’s results threw up a lower tally for the BJP than in the last council.
The BJP, with 113 seats, had the majority in the previous council that was dissolved in April by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah four days before the end of its tenure. The Congress government had to hold elections on a Supreme Court directive. The state government earlier tried to postpone the elections citing trifurcation of the civic body for better administration.
Bengaluru’s infrastructure woes are compounded by the city having the highest density of vehicles in the country that forces cars to move at speeds of 10 kmph in many localities.
"The voters have given a confused mandate," said T V Mohandas Pai, vice president of the Bangalore Political Action Committee (B-PAC). "The last (BJP-led) council was the most corrupt in the history of the city. Now, the new councillors should adhere to Prime Minister's direction and take oath with "mein Kahoonga nahin, kilaaoonga nahin (I will not be corrupt nor will allow others to be corrupt)".
B-PAC, led by prominent Bengaluru citizens is actively promoting better public governance in the city, among the biggest start-up hubs of the world.
Siddaramaiah, with 13 legislators from Bengaluru defeated the BJP that faced serious charges of corruption to come to power in 2013. In the 2014, parliamentary polls, BJP won all the three Lok Sabha seats thanks to the Modi wave.
Owning responsibility for the debacle that fetched congress 76 council seats, Siddaramaiah said that the government had put in lot of measures to improve the city's infrastructure. "We have to respect the people's verdict", he said.
Pai said that the congress could have gained more seats, if the party had focused on issues that concern the city.
"The chief minister's action in the last three months has won the party a few seats. In the first two years, Bangalore was ignored completely or congress could have done better," said Pai. said Pai.