The tail is wagging the dog. That’s what’s happening in Bengaluru, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) returned to power with a simple majority in the local council polls last week. But the BJP’s celebrations — with Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeting about the party’s hat-trick of civic poll victories — might have begun a bit early.
Despite the fact that questions were raised about the BJP’s scam-riddled stint in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) (Greater Bengaluru Municipal Corporation) over the last five years, party leaders were gung-ho about reaching the 100-seat mark in the BBMP elections that ended on August 25. The party brass felt the Bengaluru win could set the tone for the party’s prospects in the 2018 Assembly elections in Karnataka. But the crackers were, perhaps, burst a tad prematurely.
Even with only 14 of the 198 BBMP council seats in its kitty, the Janata Dal (Secular) [JD(S)], the party of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, threatens to puncture the BJP’s dreams of a second stint at running Karnataka.
Gowda’s party is helping the Congress, the runner-up in the BBMP polls with 76 seats, to sew up the magical number of 131 and stake claim for the mayor’s post. This arithmetic takes into account the voting rights of legislators and parliamentarians elected from the city, and takes the total voting strength of BBMP Council members to 260. If voting rights were restricted to the 198 corporators, the BJP, with 100 corporators, would be in the lead. But as all MLAs, MLCs and MPs living in the city also have voting powers in the BBMP Council, the math is getting reworked on which party can stake claim to the mayor’s seat.
The BJP has a strength of 125, Congress 111, JD(S) 21 and independents 13. Gowda isn’t being generous with his support to the Congress: he is eyeing for his partymen the deputy mayor’s post and chairmanship of standing committees, which study city affairs. Also factor in that the BBMP, with a budget of nearly Rs 6,000 crore, is the richest corporation in the state.
“Just two months ago, both the Congress and the JD(S) were trading charges in the Assembly,” says S Suresh Kumar, a senior BJP leader and legislator from Bengaluru. “Now they have turned friends for power.”
Siddaramaiah’s masterstroke
A week is a long time in politics during which the vanquished may turn the tables on the winner.
On August 25, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah took responsibility for the Congress’ low tally in the BBMP polls. In fact, the state government was hesitant to hold polls and would have postponed it but for the Supreme Court’s directive, which mandated elections after a council had completed five years. Siddaramaiah dissolved the council in April, five days before its tenure was to end, citing administrative challenges and a move to split the city administration into three divisions.
Last-minute infrastructure work and promises of a better future ahead of the BBMP elections didn’t win the Congress much favour, considering the neglect it had inflicted on the city in the last two years.
Now, the Congress seems all set to wrest the mayoral seat, with some political manoeuvring from Siddaramaiah, who surprised many by seeking the support of the JD(S).
“Looks like everyone has forgotten the bitter animosities,” says Chandan Gowda, professor of sociology at Azim Premji University. “It is surprising how they have come together.”
Once a loyalist of Gowda, Siddaramaiah fell out with him in 2006 when the former sacked him and crowned his (Gowda’s) son H D Kumaraswamy the chief minister. Siddaramaiah switched to the Congress and led the party to power in the 2013 Assembly polls and ultimately got the chief minister’s post.
“This dilemma has been the result of the necessity felt by Siddaramaiah to hold the BBMP’s reins despite the mandate given by the people of Bengaluru against his party,” says Suresh Kumar of the BJP.
Gowda, on his part, said there was nothing unethical in the JD(S)-Congress alliance.
Bengaluru governance
Call it a strange coincidence, but over the last two decades Karnataka has lost its bargaining power with the Centre, purely because it has had successive governments ruled by parties that were in Opposition to the parties in power at the Centre. A similar situation prevails between the party in power in the Karnataka Assembly and that in the BBMP Council.
If the same party governs the state and its capital, the latter will undoubtedly benefit in terms of overall governance, says Chandan Gowda of Azim Premji University.
“It helps if the ruling party is the same — both in the Assembly and the BBMP Council,” he adds. “There will be better resource allocation, and it will be non-confrontational.”
However, the BJP says the Congress-JD(S) alliance has more to do with the ‘spoils’ of the BBMP than governance, and that it would sit in the Opposition if denied the mayor’s post. The mayoral election is scheduled for September 11. For now, the BJP is lying low. “The JD(S) thinks the Congress will pump in more money into the BBMP,” says Kumar. “This is one occasion where the purse strings are with both of them.”
Disclaimer: These are personal views of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect the opinion of www.business-standard.com or the Business Standard newspaper
