Bengaluru: The govt’s latest consultation on Karnataka Apartment Ownership and Management (KAOM) Bill was as much a political outreach as a policy exercise, with CM DK Shivakumar using the occasion to appeal directly to Bengaluru’s growing apartment population, a constituency expected to play a key role in GBA elections.The event, attended by four senior Congress functionaries and representatives of apartment associations from across the city, underscored the political importance the govt now attaches to apartment owners.Calling the proposed legislation the govt’s “sixth guarantee”, Shivakumar said the bill intends to protect people who invest their savings in a home.He drew on his own experience as an apartment owner. “Once a person buys a flat, problems can arise right from the agreement stage to registration and even after possession. Sometimes, there are people within associations who create difficulties,” he said, recalling a dispute involving his apartment in east Bengaluru’s Benniganahalli where he was once prevented from entering the property.The interaction turned overtly political when Shivakumar acknowledged that apartment residents hadn’t always backed him electorally. “Though the support went in different directions in the past, this time I have trust in these people that they will support me,” he said.
