Corporators use blackmail to force KSCA to give them 450 IPL passes for matchCorporators use blackmail to force KSCA to give them 450 IPL passes for match.
Cricket mania is reaching feverish pitch up among city corporators as Royal Challengers Bangalore take on Delhi Daredevils at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday. But at least for once, the pursuit of free Indian Premier League (IPL) passes to watch the match has got all the corporators united in resorting to blackmailing tactics to arm-twist Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) into giving them 450 passes.
With KSCA insisting on parting with only 250 passes for corporators, the latter have threatened to levy full advertisement tax on KSCA—which is presently advertising at discounted tax rates offered by BBMP—if they do not get all 450 passes.
Deputy Mayor S Harish has demanded 450 VIP passes—two passes per corporator (there are 198 corporators in the BBMP council), rest for BBMP officials. Harish told DNA: “If they do not provide the passes we require, we won’t force them. But we will take necessary action against them in the future.”
He did not specify what action has been planned, but BBMP council opposition leader, M Udayshankar, said they would take stern action against KSCA if they do not get 450 passes as demanded by them. And that stern is this: “We are going to levy advertisement tax on KSCA which is advertising at discounted tax rates offered by us, and this is what they do to us,” Udayshankar said.
According to sources, it is not yet known what action the deputy mayor has planned against KSCA if all 450 IPL passes did not come their way. Harish, on his part, while requesting KSCA to treat the corporators in a dignified manner, said, “I won’t disclose what we are going to do, but we will definitely take necessary action,” he said while indicating that there might be something other than just levying full advertising rates on KSCA.
Another corporator said if KSCA did not give them all passes, then BBMP would be forced to disconnect the sewage and water connection to the stadium “to teach them a lesson”.
This is not the first time that city corporators and KSCA have clashed over free passes for IPL or any cricket match that has taken place at the stadium. Last year, during the ICC World Cup, too, all 198 corporators had demanded free passes for the match. Then Mayor SK Nataraj, along with other corporators, had held discussions with the KSCA secretary Javagal Srinath about providing free tickets.
The issue was first raised by former mayor and Hanumanthanagar corporator K Chandrashekar during the council meeting held on December 31, 2010. He had said the corporators were entitled to free passes for the matches as Chinnaswamy Stadium belonged to the BBMP, and the same was also included in the MoU between Chinnaswamy Stadium management and the BBMP.
The issue had come to a head when during the first IPL the corporators had received only 40 passes.
Last year, when India–England World Cup match was shifted to Bangalore, the corporators were given 100 passes besides 400 tickets each costing Rs1,000. Srinath had outrightly refused handing them 450 tickets.
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