Bengaluru: The tremors from the 'earthquake' in state politics could soon be felt in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) with the BJP, which is now the opposition party in the civic body, likely to make a determined effort to wrest the coveted post of mayor during the mayoral elections in September.
The saffron party is confident of upsetting the Congress-JD(S) plan of holding on to the post as the mayor is chosen by an electoral body comprising the 198 BBMP corporators and also MPs, MLAs and MLCs. With some of the Congress and JD(S) MLAs from Bengaluru turning rebels, they are unlikely to back the coalition candidate for mayor this time, said sources.
Speaking to this newspaper, BJP city unit spokesperson, Mr N.R. Ramesh said though the BJP is the single largest party in BBMP for the past four years, the Congress and JD(S) stitched together an unholy alliance by luring the independent corporators to deprive his party of the mayor post.
"Now that Congress legislators including RR Nagar MLA Mr Munirathna, KR Puram MLA Mr Byrathi Basavaraj and Yeshwanthpur MLA Mr S.T. Somashekar are not likely to back the Congress candidate, we are sure of getting enough support to elect our mayor," he explained.
The BJP has 102 corporators in the 198 member BBMP and after the rebellion in the Congress and JD(S), some corporators who are considered loyal to the rebel MLAs, may also decide not to support the coalition's mayoral candidate, said a confident Mr Ramesh.
This year as per reservation rules, the mayor's post is reserved for the general category and there are many BJP leaders who are in the race for the post.
Ironically, the three rebel Congress MLAs had played a pivotal role in cobbling together a Congress-JD(S) alliance to frustrate the BJP's efforts to rule the BBMP after the civic body polls in 2015.
Sources said even BTM Layout MLA Mr Ramalinga Reddy is upset with the Congress and it remains to be seen what stance he will adopt during the mayoral poll though he did withdraw his resignation from the Assembly under pressure from the party top brass.
