BJP storms Bangalore municipality, unseats Cong
The ruling BJP in Karnataka wrested the Bangalore corporation, Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, from the Congress on Monday, registering the third electoral win in the state after the assembly and general elections.
The ruling BJP in Karnataka wrested the Bangalore corporation, Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, from the Congress on Monday, registering the third electoral win in the state after the assembly and general elections.
While the BJP won 112 of the total 198 seats, the Congress bagged 64, H.D. Deve Gowda’s Janata Dal (S) 15 and independents seven seats.
The BJP, besieged by feuds between Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and the mining barons, Reddy brothers — as it had to reshuffle the bureaucracy and remove a minister to appease the Reddys — dubbed it as a “landmark victory and a mandate for development”.
Yeddyurappa said the results were a “befitting reply” to those who criticised the BJP government. “We don’t need a better example than this. If you do good development work, people will bless you.”
The CM announced that the focus of the new civic body would be on improving the city’s infrastructure —housing for slum dwellers, better drinking water and power supply.
He said Rs 22,500 crore would be spent during the next three years for this purpose.
The elections were held on March 28, after a gap of eight years, following an order of the Karnataka High Court to the state government. The jurisdiction of the civic body was expanded by merging seven city municipal councils, one town council and 111 villages.
While as many as 1,336 candidates — mostly independents — were in the fray, the polls also saw hi-tech campaigning through social networking sites.
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