Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday owned responsibility for the Congress defeat in the elections to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Pailke (BBMP). But only had he been a bit more graceful, for in the same breath he asserted that it was not a referendum either on himself or his party. Siddaramaiah perhaps suffers from the Ostrich Syndrome, or is too arrogant to accept reality.
The Chief Minister has been parroting this referendum line for a while, and only because he saw the writing on the wall last year itself when the Congress was routed in the state during the 2014 general elections. Even an opinion poll carried out in Bengaluru a few months back predicted a victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which was ruling BBMP till Siddaramaiah dissolved it.
Even being told by the Supreme Court to conduct elections to the BBMP was a loss of face for him, for Siddaramaiah had tried every trick to either avoid the polls or bypass the civic body altogether. He had ousted the BJP in 2013 promising a clean and efficient administration; but the sorry state of civic affairs is ample proof that little has changed, leave alone improve, in the last two years.
Siddaramaiah held all crucial ministerial portfolios governing the city’s main civic agencies – BBMP, the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) and the Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB). Everything reflected adversely on him.
In fact, ground had been slipping from under his feet from day one. He knew the BJP had lost the state in 2013, but it still retained control over a considerably large turf in Bengaluru – the BJP won 12 of the 28 Assembly seats in Bengaluru that year. Then, it grabbed all three Lok Sabha seats from the city a year later. Moreover, 113 of the outgoing palike’s 198 corporators were from the BJP.
It was important for Siddaramaiah to regain Bengaluru. For, an electoral defeat would not only be a sad reflection on his own administrative lethargy, it would also buck a historical trend: no party in power at the state has lost civic elections in the capital since 1983. But the biggest reasons for the civic poll debacle was the way in which he had been going around BBMP affairs for a year.
In September last, the government constituted a three-member committee to look into a possible restructuring of the BBMP. In February this year, Siddaramaiah constituted a one-man committee headed by IAS officer Rajendra Kataria to examine alleged irregularities in the BBMP. Kataria completed his work in just a fortnight. As the expert committee kept researching and consulting with the public, matters took their own legal course.
First, on March 30, the Karnataka High Court directed the state to conduct the polls before May 31, clearly telling it not to delay on the pretext of delimitation of wards (The term of the council was to expire on April 22). This made Siddaramaiah act in haste. On April 10, the government drew up a draft ordinance seeking to split the BBMP and send it to Governor Vajubhai Vala, who returned it saying he was not satisfied with the ordinance, and questioned its timing.
And then, Siddaramaiah shot himself in the foot. The civic body was dissolved on April 18, and the term of the palike’s 198 corporators was terminated. All standing committees were dissolved under Section 99 of the Karnataka Municipal Corporation (KMC) Act, 1976, citing failure on the part of the BBMP Council in discharging its civic duty, utter financial mismanagement, and largescale irregularities. The rationale for this move had already been prepared in March, when the Urban Development Department showcaused the BBMP seeking explanation on alleged financial irregularities. It also served notices to all corporators, including the mayor and the commissioner under Section 99 of the KMC Act. The said section provides power to the state government to supercede or dissolve the BBMP Council. Then, the government convened a special session of the Legislature on April 20 to push through its initiative. In its five-page notification, the state government quoted the Kataria report on irregularities and mismanagement in the BBMP.
The Assembly passed the Karnataka Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2015 on April 20, but the Bill got held up in the Upper House where the BJP and its ally Janata Dal (Secular) had the floor strength. Siddaramaiah remained adamant and the Assemly once again passed the Bill after it was re-introduced in July. The Governor refused to give his assent, and forwarded the Bill to the President for his reference. The elections to the BBMP could have been stalled had Pranab Mukherjee given his assent by August 3, when the notification for the elections was to be issued by the State Election Commission. The President, obviously, didn't play ball.
And while it was always a given that the BBMP Council was inefficient and corrupt, Siddaramaiah through his administration proved that he was no better. He also refused to acknowledge that the public suffers from mood swings – the mood changes, and uncomfortably fast for politicians. People want a better life: it would have been in Siddaramaiah’s own interest to understand that. As things stand, he has gone down – and taken his party too down with him.
