• Source:JND
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Following a setback in the Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka, the Congress party is focusing on the upcoming Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) elections in Bengaluru. In the general elections held this year, Congress managed to win only nine out of the 28 seats, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bagged 17 seats.

The Congress government has now shifted its attention to the civic polls. According to reports, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah-led state government is planning to hold the civic body polls only after splitting it into five city corporations through legislation in the upcoming joint session in July.

A key meeting in this regard was held at the home office of CM Siddaramaiah on Monday where a delegation of Bengaluru legislators, led by Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, was also present. Notably, Shivakumar is also the Bengaluru development minister, as per an Indian Express report.

One of the attendees suggested that the present scenario is not conducive for Congress to hold polls under the ongoing circumstances. This is because the BJP swept all the four Lok Sabha seats in the city and hence, the state government is of the view that splitting the BBMP will ensure victory for them in civic body polls, the report added.

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They felt that the division of BBMP will help them win at least some of the five city corporations.

After the split, the suburban areas that fall under the jurisdiction of Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA), will also come under city corporation, covering over 840 sq km under greater Bengaluru.

According to the report, Siddaramaiah has given a thumbs up to the plan and the state government has begun preparations to convince the Karnataka High Court. The report further stated that the matter to further postpone the BBMP polls is pending before the HC.

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The Congress-JDS government in 2018 did not split the civic body into five after recommendations by the restructuring committee. Notably, several deadlines have been set by the court for BBMP elections which has been running without corporators since 2021. Now, the government may face contempt proceedings if it fails to conduct elections soon.

Ministers Ramalinga Reddy, KJ George and Zameer Ahmed Khan, legislators Sudham Das, UB Venkatesh, Rizwan Arshad, Nagaraj Yadav and Govindaraju, were among the attendees.Rajya Sabha members GC Chandrashekar, Nagaraj Yadav, Krishnappa and CM's political secretary Naseer Ahmed, Prof Rajeev Gowda were all part of the discussions.