The massive setback that racing suffered by virtue of the High Court’s ruling which made it clear that Bangalore Turf Club had to vacate its premises by September 22, 2010 does not seem to have made much impact on the members of the club who are at this point of time busy with electing their kith and kin as members in the elections scheduled to be held on Monday. No body wants to say anything lest the chances of their protégés gets affecting in the elections.

In fact, the Chairman of the Club has circulated a letter among members that the High Court decision had more positives for the club as the club had got breathing time and has time to approach the Supreme Court. What is forgotten is that the Court verdict has given finality to BTC’s claims of possession of land by way of grant. At best BTC can bargain for some time but the writing is clear. BTC has to make plans to have an alternate venue in place if racing has to survive in Bangalore Given the mindset of the members and the managing committee this looks like a day dream.

The Bangalore Turf Club members took the tough stance under the false premise that the piece of information that they had dug about the race course land was theirs by way of grant of 1915. They forgot the fact that the club had signed several lease agreements in the intervening period and these agreements had effectively sealed the fate as far as the grant of land was concerned. Chief Minister Yeddyurappa was keen on giving concessions to the turf club, even extension if the club had agreed to sign the lease deed. If the club had signed the lease deed, the onus would have been on the government to get the land cleared of legal hassles. The government would also have been morally obligated to bail out the club. By taking the route of confrontation, they seem to have lost everything. The government is now not obliged to give any land to BTC.

There is no gainsaying by stating that even if the club had accepted to take the Chikkajala land, the same would have been nullified by the courts and as such, the stand taken by the club was justified. Interestingly, it was the turf club which identified Chikkajala land and asked the government to sanction the same! Former Chairman of BTC Kumar Siddanna has justified BTC going to court stating that if they had not opted for legal recourse; racing would have closed in Bangalore on January 1 itself. This is a grossly exaggerated statement as the government had indicated time and again that it was willing to consider extension if the club showed earnest in shifting. Sadly, many past chairman of the club did not use their proximity with the Chief Minister to get the lease issue decided once for all. They used their clout to either become chairman themselves or to get their nominees into the chair. Becoming a chairman became more of an ornamental issue. The persons so elected showed more commitment to members than for racing.

There is a ray of hope for the club as Chief Minister Yeddyurappa has gone on record stating that the government would still consider giving land to the club. The club has so far not made any effort to open channels of communication with the Chief Minister. Instead, they are viewing everything with suspicion which does not augur well for the club. They have to trust the Chief Minister of the land for the assurance instead of confronting him in court. Already we have seen the result of such a disastrous move. We need a fresh set of committee members who will have the conviction to face the Chief Minister after the drubbing that they got in the High Court.

BTC has no money in its coffers. They don’t have a contingency plan. They don’t’ have a long term plan. Sadly they don’t even have vision!