BJP logs into Bangalore in a big way
Bangalore, May 26: The urban glamour of the saffron party was writ large in the just concluded Karnataka Assembly elections in which the Bharatiya Janata Party, waiting on the wings to form a new government has bagged 19 of the 36 Assembly seats from Bangalore, the IT metropolis of the country.
The number of seats in the urban conglomeration of Bangalore more than doubled to 36 from 16 in the previous elections in view of demographic changes and also amalgamation of certain City Municipal Corporation regions with the Bangalore City Corporation in the latest delimitation process. The Congress had won 14 and the Janata Dal (Secular) three. Suffering from the last mile problem of missing the magic figure of 113 for a simple majority in the new Assembly by three, the BJP had secured as many as 19 seats including 17 from Brihath Bangalore Metropolitan Palike (BBMP) and two out of the total eight assembly segments in Bangalore Urban district.
The BBMP and Bangalore Urban districts have put together contribute as many as 16 per cent of the total strength of 224 member Karnataka assembly. The voters of Bangalore by sending maximum number of legislators of BJP to Karnataka assembly have largely contributed in the installation of first-ever saffron government in the entire south India. The party is in talks with six independents, of whom one was a BJP rebel to muster the missing numbers and form the government on its own.
This teeming metropolis had held the centre stage during the campaign with the political parties having the woefully inadequate infrastructure of the city in mind making several promises to woo nearly five million voters. The three major contenders for power, the BJP, the Congress and the Janata Dal (S) had brought out separate manifestos for the city. The Congress had pledged to spend over Rs 50,000 crore on infrastructure during its term of five years, while the BJP assured to provide good governance to the city and set up an effective mechanism to check crime. The JD(S) promised houses, better schemes to improve living standards and also extension of 'Yashaswini' health scheme to all Auto auto rickshaw drivers and their family members.
UNI