BANGALORE: Leader of the Opposition in the Council VS Ugrappa on Friday took a dig at the Chief Minister and the Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj for receiving a slap from the High Court for conducting in an unconstitutional way vis-a-vis the reservation of posts of zilla panchayat presidents and vice-presidents.
Ugrappa told reporters that the High Court had delivered a blow to the state government by staying the elections to the posts of president and vice-president of all ZPs, barring two, on the grounds of violating the roster system and also the provisions of Karnataka Panchayat Raj Act. The High Court has not stayed the election to the Chikballapur and Kolar ZPs for which the elections have already been held. "The state government has done the reservation for political gains stepping out of its limits. It is evident from its action that the government has little belief in the roster system and also decentralisation of power," he said demanding an unconditional apology from the Chief Minister and the RDPR Minister.
Referring to the Cabinet decision to hold elections to the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagar Palike (BBMP), Ugrappa questioned the reason behind raising the number of wards from 147 to 198. He contended that the decision was a ploy to once again postpone the elections to BBMP as it cannot complete the process of delimitation of wards in the remaining days.Ugrappa also took the government to task for delaying the filing of special leave petition before the Supreme Court .