BENGALURU:Congress and BJP members clashed over the move to trifurcate the BBMP at a meeting of the civic body on Friday.
Opposing the Cabinet’s decision to split the BBMP, BJP and JD(S) members attended the budget meeting wearing black arm-bands. They also protested by holding placards outside the Council building.
Participating in the protest, former mayor S K Nataraj told reporters that if the government felt that one mayor was not enough, then one chief minister also will not do for the entire state.
“There should be two more CMs along with Siddaramaiah. After the division of Andhra Pradesh, everyone knows what happened to the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections. If they divide the BBMP, they will face a similar scenario here,” he said.
JD(S) floor leader R Prakash said as in Belagavi, one of the divided zones of BBMP will face a language problem. “Kannadigas will become a minority (in one zone). There is some hidden agenda behind this decision. JD(S) is opposing the division and will support the BJP,” he said.
Later, during the meeting, ruling party leader N R Ramesh said the BBMP Restructuring Committee headed by former chief secretary B S Patil will present the final report in June.
“When the government constituted the committee, how can they give approval without the committee’s final report?” he asked. He said if the civic body is divided, it will result in a setup in which one corporation is rich and another poor. “By dividing the BBMP, the state government is favouring a section of people,” he said.
Irked by his comments, Congress members asked him which group the BJP government helped when Bangalore Mahanagara Palike was merged with other bodies to form the BBMP.
This created a commotion with both Congress and BJP members shouting slogans against each other, following which the mayor adjourned the meeting.
BBMP Budget Approved
The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) budget for 2015-16 with an outlay of Rs 6,848.98 crore was approved by the Council on Friday. An additional Rs 120 crore - Rs 100 crore for Nagarothana scheme and Rs 20 crore for the Karnataka Slum Board to construct houses - has been included. “We have not made any changes. We just added Rs 120 crore to the existing budget outlay of Rs 6,728.98 crore... This is a realistic budget and (it) will achieve more than 80 per cent success,” V Anand, Chairman, Standing Committee for Taxation and Finance, said.