Looking back at the past

BANGALORE: Nataraj is the second BBMP Corporator to be murdered this year. Earlier, gangster-turned-politician Mohammed Ali alias Dewan Ali, who had a bloody history, was shot dead at his office in Yarabnagar on January 16. He was the JD(S) corporator of Banashankari Temple Ward.Corporators, cutting across party lines, getting eliminated by anti-social elements is not new for the BBMP. This trend is also a telling comment on the state of affairs in the political parties, which allegedly encourage rowdy elements not only to use their muscle power but also to win elections. The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, as BBMP was called earlier, has seen over eight murders in the past apart from that of Nataraj and Dewan Ali,  In 2001,  corporator of Hombegowda ward Shaila, was allegedly killed by her boyfriend. While in 1996, Venkatachala, the corporator of Azad Nagar ward, was murdered by his follower. Even in 1990, corporator of Agrahara Dasarahalli, Rotti Manja, was murdered. Before these incidents, councillors Lokesh, Dunde Gowda, Ramaiah, Narasimhamurthy and Muniappa had also met sad end. Many former corporators and those who had contested for corporation elections were brutally murdered.