BENGALURU: Both opposition and ruling party corporators opposed the forming of an MLA committee in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike council meeting. The MLA-led panel was proposed at the state government level. It is essentially a coordination committee chaired by the MLA with corporators of wards falling under their jurisdiction along with officials from BBMP, BWSSB, BESCOM and other agencies.
Opposition leader Padmanabha Reddy (BJP) said, “We are conducting ward committees held by corporators. However, the proposal to start MLA-led committees is not constitutional. There is no option in the Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act. Deputy Speaker M Krishna Reddy committee was formed and they submitted the report to the state government.”
“There is no point forming this committee and moreover, the authority of corporators and local-self governance will be sidelined,” he added.
Padmavathi G, former Mayor and Congress corporator of Prakash Nagar agreed and said, “Being in a democratic country, everyone has equal power. Corporators have more local importance as they are aware of ward-level issues. Ward committee meeting exist already and we do not need one more.” Mayor Gangambike Mallikarjun, therefore, rejected the proposal on behalf of BBMP.
The issue over the naming of Albert Victor Road in Chamarajpet as Tipu Sultan Road cropped up once again with BJP demanding for it to be named after revolutionary Alur Venkata Rao. The matter was deferred to be discussed in the next council meeting.
Meanwhile, M B Dwarakanath, corporator of Shantalanagar, said,” I am very sad to say that BBMP engineers did not call me for inauguration of the TenderSURE road work in my own ward.” He along with other corporators urged the Mayor to take action against the concerned Chief Engineer and suspend them. The Mayor said that appropriate action would be taken against the engineer after an inquiry.