BJP opposes Greater Bengaluru Bill

Bengaluru : Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, R Ashoka, on Monday accused the Congress government of trying to divide Bengaluru with the Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill -- which proposes up to seven municipal corporations in the city, as he also cautioned about non-Kannadigas becoming Mayors. Terming the bill as a “death knell” to the city that was founded by Kempegowda, a chieftain under the Vijayanagara empire, he said the Bill is against the 74th Amendment of the Constitution, as the power will be concentrated with the chief minister and not elected councils.

The Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill, 2024 (as introduced in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly and as recommended by the joint select committee) was placed for the consideration of the Assembly by Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who is also the Minister in-charge for Bengaluru Development.

In July last year, the Bill was referred to a joint select committee. The committee tabled its report in the Assembly last week. The Bill proposes restructuring the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) by splitting it into a maximum of seven city corporations in the Greater Bengaluru Area. It also provides for a constitution of a Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) for coordination and supervision and 30 months terms for the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor.

The GBA would be headed by the chief minister as the ex-officio chairperson, while the minister in charge of development of Bengaluru would be the ex-officio vice-chairperson. Pointing out that Shivakumar’s father shares his name with the city’s founder Kempegowda, Ashoka said, “Being the son of Kempegowda, he (Shivakumar) is dividing Bengaluru into pieces. This is so unfortunate.” Considering that Kannadigas were becoming a minority in the city and it would become a union territory if left as it is, the then BJP government in 2006 had created the BBMP by bringing surrounding villages which had Kannada speaking population under its ambit, he said. “Today you are dividing to four or five corporations. We don’t know how many. How will Kannada survive in Bengaluru East (Bengaluru)? It is not possible to survive. We will start losing one by one. It will ultimately affect Kannada. We won’t even have Kannadigas as Mayors...,” he said.

Accusing the government of violating the 74th amendment (constitutional amendment), which is about devolving power to local bodies, Ashoka, who is MLA from the city’s Padmanabhanagar constituency said, “...the elected representative -- the Mayor should have been supreme. But here it is D K Shivakumar and the CM are supreme.” “The CM has not been able to chair a single meeting of the metropolitan planning committee (MPC) till date, then how can we expect the CM to hold regular meetings of GBA? The CM has several things to do, how will he do this?” he asked. Also noting that with GBA, there will be disparity in revenue generation among the various corporations, and it could lead to inter-corporation fights, Ashok said IT/BT companies are concentrated in the city’s eastern part. Pointing out Shivakumar’s statement that one Commissioner (of BBMP), an IAS officer, will not be able to manage the whole of Bengaluru city, he asked, then how does the same IAS ranking officer, with the post of Chief Secretary is managing the entire state of over 7 crore people. “There is one CM for the entire state and a PM for the entire country.” Suggesting having five commissioners if required for better administration, he said, “Why is it being specially done in Bengaluru? Why are you not doing this to corporations like Mysuru, Mangaluru, Belagavi...?” Stating that he and his forefather had lived in Bengaluru, the Leader of Opposition requested, “Don’t divide Bengaluru in front of our eyes.”