Karnataka Assembly passes Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill amid BJP’s protest

DK Shivakumar

Karnataka Assembly on Monday passed the Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill amid protests by the opposition BJP.

The Bill pertains to 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 for coordination and supervision, and 30 months terms for the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor.

The Bill was tabled in the Assembly by Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who holds the Bengaluru development portfolio.

Shivakumar said, "We want the decentralisation of power and administration. We are not destroying Bengaluru as some of the opposition members have stated. Instead, we are strengthening it. We want to make Bengaluru strong." He added that the Bill has been brought to give Bengaluru a new direction.

Disagreeing with his statement, the Leader of the Opposition, R Ashoka, said this Bill is an insult to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who wanted to strengthen the local bodies.

He alleged that the Congress is paving the way for other local bodies to raise a similar demand for dividing them into several divisions. "Dividing Bengaluru will not help us," Ashoka said.

Participating in the discussion, Yelahanka BJP MLA S R Vishwanath said, "When the Chief Commissioner has been running the BBMP for the past many years without an elected body, why do you want to divide? If you still want decentralisation of BBMP’s administration then hold elections, get an elected body who will manage the city well." He also said that if the government was keen on forming Greater Bengaluru, it should be done after the delimitation of Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies. "We will support you in strengthening its administration but don’t divide Bengaluru," Vishwanath said.