Nearly two years after it created history by forming the first saffron government in the south, ruling BJP on Sunday captured the prestigious Bangalore City Corporation with its maiden victory in the civic polls in 54 years. With all the results for 198 wards of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike declared this evening, the BJP bagged 112 wards, dislodging the Congress which had controlled the corporation for which polls were due for the last three and half years.
Congress and JDS had turned the March 28 polls into a fierce battle against BJP and ended up securing 64 and 15 wards respectively. Others won seven wards, officials said. Belying predictions of a fractured verdict, BJP has again demonstrated its electoral hold over country's IT hub by taking control of the corporation.
The poll outcome has come as a big boost to BJP whose morale had taken a beating after a section of legislators rebelled against Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, posing a serious threat to the survival of the saffron government formed in May 2008. "It's a befitting reply (to the Congress and JDS).
The verdict has silenced our critics", an elated Yeddyurappa said, announcing a Rs 22,500 crore bonanza for improving infrastructure in Bangalore in the next three years. Congress blamed the poor turnout -- 44 per cent -- as the main reason for BJP's victory. In the assembly polls, BJP had bagged 17 seats in BBMP jurisdiction, Congress 10 and the JD-S one. In the Lok Sabha elections, BJP won all the three seats from Bangalore.
BBMP polls, due for the last three and half years, were held after 100 wards were expanded to 198 by merging seven city municipal councils, one town municipal council and 111 villages.
Yeddyurappa said the mandate was for the developmental initiatives of his government in the last 22 months for Bangalore as well as the entire state. He also said the government would make all efforts to put in place the Bangalore Governance Act to ensure better coordination and enable empowering ward-level committees. "It will also bring increased accountability and efficiency in planning and execution of works".
On the other hand, Karnataka Congress chief R V Deshpande said "All the people, who were criticising the government, should have come forward and voted which was their constitutional right. If they had done so the results would have been different." JDS spokesperson Y S V Dutta alleged money had played a big role in the elections and the state election commission has become "a puppet in the hands of the government". PTI
