Bill to split Bengaluru civic body sent to select panel

The amendment bill to split Bengaluru civic body was on Monday referred to a select committee of the Karnataka council after the opposition parties refused to pass it as they are against any proposal to bifurcate or trifurcate it.

"I am referring the Karnataka Municipal Corporations (Amendment) Act 2015 to the select committee for studying its provisions and making recommendations," Chairman D.H. Shankaramurthy told the lawmakers after a day-long debate on the contentious bill.

The ruling Congress passed the controversial bill by voice vote in the legislative assembly at a special session on April 20 in spite of vociferous protests by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S), which want the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to remain as a single entity.

As the combined opposition has majority (45) in the 75-member upper house as against 28 by the Congress, with two vacancies, its members refused to vote in favour or against the bill and urged the chair to refer it to the select panel.

Though Chief Minister Siddaramaiah appealed to the opposition members to exercise their vote to either pass or defeat the bill, the latter refused to budge from their stand.

"No bill has been referred to select committee of the council in the history of the state's legislature. The opposition is hell bent on delaying passing a progressive bill in the interest of the city," Siddaramaiah told reporters later.

Participating in the debate, JD-S lawmaker E. Krishnappa said if the BBMP was trifurcated, it would help Tamils and Telugus to dominate, as the population of Kannadigas in the city of nine million was only 32 percent.

"The proposed legislation aiming at trifurcating BBMP will help Tamil and Telugu people to regain their dominance and hold over Bengaluru city," Krishnappa said during the discussion.