Karnataka CM arm-twists V-C to get Bangalore University land for ABVP meet

The chief minister’s office has added another controversy to its already-long list. Now they have started interfering in Bangalore University’s decisions.

There is a syndicate resolution in Bangalore University (BU) that the Central College Grounds should not be given for non-academic purposes. Violating that resolution, BU agreed to give the grounds to the Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarti Parishad (ABVP) for its national conference, scheduled to be held on December 25 and 26 in the city. More than 10,000 people from across the nation are expected to gather.

University sources said that vice-chancellor N Prabhu Dev resisted providing the ground, but ABVP authorities managed to put pressure on him by appealing to the higher authorities of the state. “The V-C was not ready to give the grounds. But the ABVP  succeeded in getting the grounds by putting pressure on the university from the chief minister’s office,” said a senior university official.

When M Thimmappa was the V-C, the Central College grounds issue was placed before the syndicate. After a lengthy discussion, the syndicate passed a resolution that Central College grounds should not be given out for non-academic purposes.

This resolution was passed mainly to avoid public using the grounds for conferences and celebrations. “People used the grounds for community festivals, especially during Navaratri. After such celebrations, it used to take at least one week for the university to clean it up,” the official said.

“If it is merely an issue of cleaning the university, it wouldn’t have mattered much. But the people used to dig the land to put pandals and that was a big problem,” he said.

After passing the resolution, the department of physical education received at least 100 applications seeking permission to use the ground. “We rejected all those applications. But this time, we were forced to provide it because of pressure from the chief minister’s office,” a faculty said.

Meanwhile, university faculty blame the ABVP for bringing pressure from the chief minister. “If they need a ground, why don’t they use National College grounds? Why do they have to put unnecessary pressure on us?” questioned a senior member of the academic council.

AP Ranganath, a former syndicate member, asked, “When there is a resolution, why must ABVP misuse government’s power to get the grounds?”

ABVP officials were not available for comment, but they have already started making arrangements on the ground.