Bangalore proves to be happy hunting ground for BJP

Bangalore, May 26 (UNI) The urban glamour of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was evident in the just-concluded Karnataka Assembly elections, in which the saffron party, waiting on the wings to form a new Government in the State, 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 had more than doubled to 36 from 16 in the previous elections in view of the demographic changes and 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 by three, the BJP had secured as many as 19 seats, including 17 from Brihath Bangalore Metropolitan Palike (BBMP) area, and two out of the total eight Assembly segments in Bangalore Urban district.

The BBMP and Bangalore Urban districts put together contribute to as many as 16 per cent of the total strength of the 224-member Karnataka Assembly. The voters of Bangalore, by sending maximum number of Legislators of the BJP to the Karnataka Assembly, have largely contributed to the installation of the first-ever saffron Government in entire South India. The party was 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 centrestage during the campaign, with the parties having the woefully inadequate city infrastructure in mind and making several promises to woo the nearly five million voters.

The three major contenders for power, the BJP, the Congress and the JD(S), had brought out separate manifestos for the city. The Congress had pledged to spend over Rs 50,000 crore on infrastructure, 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 extension of 'Yeshaswini' health scheme to all autorickshaw drivers and their family members.

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