BJP unleashes Operation Lotus to capture hung ZPs

DHNS

Bangalore, 06 January 2011: A day after the voters delivered a split verdict in 10 of the 30 zilla panchayats, the ruling BJP began its favourite exercise — Operation Lotus — to gain control over these bodies. The exercise began in right earnest in Bellary with the Reddy brothers trying to turn the hung verdict to their advantage.

 

Going by the developments of Wednesday, it was obvious that the BJP is scouting every possible way to come to power in the ZPs which have not given a clear verdict in favour of any single political party.

 

The BJP seems to have no reservation in either circumventing the Anti-Defection Law or fixing reservation for the posts of president and vice president to its advantage. However, the manipulation in reservation will not work where seats have to be mandatorily reserved for scheduled castes or scheduled tribes.

 

Another safe strategy adopted by the ruling party was to weaken the Opposition by making its elected members resign. This has already begun in Bellary.

 

The ruling party is also trying its best to ensure that the Congress and the JD(S) do not tie up to come to power in the ZPs of Bangalore Urban, Bangalore Rural, Gulbarga, Bijapur, Kolar and Koppal. However, it is keeping out of the ZPs of Raichur, Mysore and Chitradurga where it is numerically weak.

 

KPCC president G Parameshwara has announced that his party is ready to join hands with the JD(S), which JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy has reciprocated in order to keep the BJP out of power in the local bodies.

 

In Bellary, the BJP won 18 seats and the combined strength of the Opposition is 18. Both sides are one short of the majority. Tourism Minister Janardhan Reddy took a woman ZP Congress member to the BJP’s fold, although she is yet to resign her membership.

 

Reddy claimed that five to six more Congress members will join his party. It is to be seen whether Reddy will succeed in engineering a split in the Congress to negate the application of  the Anti-Defection Law. The BJP will have to get at least six out of the 17 Congress members to effect a split.

 

According to Section 3 and 4 of the Karnataka Local Authorities (Prohibition of Defection) Act, 1987, no political party at the ZP and TP levels can split to form a separate group or merge with another without at least one-third strength.

 

If the rules are violated, the State Election Commission will look into the complaint in such cases and take action in accordance with provisions of the Act. The BJP is confident of taking Bangalore Urban and Bangalore Rrural ZPs in its control though it is short of majority. In Bangalore Urban, the BJP needs two more seats and in the rural ZP, one more to capture the boards.

 

The combined strength of the Opposition in the urban ZP is 18, which is sufficient to rule the ZP. Sources in the BJP said efforts are on to split the JD(S) by wooing two of its members.

 

In Bangalore rural, the combined strength of the Congress and the JD (S) is 18, which is equivalent to that of the BJP’s. The ruling party has set its eyes on the ‘vulnerable’ JD(S) members so that it can effect a split.

 

In Gulbarga, the BJP needs two more members to come to power. The lone Independent member, in all probability, will support the BJP. Efforts are on by the BJP to drive in wedges in the JD(S), which has just three members. The Opposition fears that the BJP may reserve the ZP president post in Bijpaur to an ST woman.  

 

It is the rural development and panchayat raj department that works out the reservation chart for the posts of president and vice president. The reservation is allotted on a rotational basis.

 

If the BJP reserves the Bijapur ZP president post to an ST woman, then the Congress and the JD (S) will lose out the battle here at least for 20 months, as the duration of the president is for that many months. The government has to come out with the reservation list within a week’s time, as the term of existing elected bodies will end in the next 15 days.

 

Parties will issue a whip to its members as to whom they should support during the election of president and vice president, violation of which may attract disqualification. If the BJP has its way, it will make some Opposition members violate the whip.