BENGALURU: Senior Congress leader and BTM Layout MLA Ramalinga Reddy has tendered his resignation over portfolio allocation. Reddy, an eight-time MLA, was angling for Bengaluru Development ministry, but the post went to Krishna Byregowda.
His resignation comes at a time when Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) has to prepare for elections to five city corporations. Reddy’s move is likely to cause damage Congress’s prospects, as many leaders, who are capable of winning and swaying voters, might quit the party.
“Reddy is our guiding force. We became corporators, some became ruling, opposition leaders in the Council and a few became mayors. We will take decisions as per his directions,” said a senior leader and ex-corporator.
A woman Congress functionary and two-time corporator in the erstwhile Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) said that issues ranging from garbage to bad roads will give sleepless nights to the those at the helm of the state government, as most contractors are backing Reddy.
CK Ramamurthy, a BJP MLA and former BBMP corporator, said that Reddy knows Bengaluru in and out.
“The Congress has denied him an opportunity, and it is their internal matter. But this factor alone will not determine the GBA election outcome. The government has already enraged the voters for the last three years, and the BJP would capitalise on all this and win at least four out of the five civic bodies in Bengaluru,” he said.
