Bengaluru:  It’s all happening at the Bangalore Turf Club (BTC). The mandarins of the richest club in the Indian horse racing industry are slowly, yet surely moving in the right direction and hopefully racing will be back on even keel in winter.

Last week the club had asked the government permission to amend the Articles of Association to increase the membership by 50 and after gaining the go-ahead  the club has called for the EGM on Nov 15 to put to vote the resolution to give 50 memberships to the government nominees. Now the big question is will the resolution go through?  Well after speaking to a sizeable number of members, it is like the popular Krackjack biscuit, 50-50, sweet and salty.  

It is also learnt that the government in a letter to the BTC have made it clear that all the 50 government nominees will pay a maximum of Rs five lakh each for membership. That has brought cheer among a group of members who had opposed the idea of giving 50 membership to the government at no cost.  

Realising that the chances are not good and that they need to devise plans to shift out, a number of owners  have already started exploring the other centres while the Karnataka Trainers association (KTA) has shot off an appeal to all members to vote in favour of the resolution.

Taking into account that the finances of the club are fast running out and BTC is on the verge of bankruptcy, the committee has requested the government to provide the licence to conduct off-course betting and start racing before the EGM scheduled on Nov 15 ,but that is not likely to gain a favourable response from the government after BTC failed to keep its promise in summer.

When asked about the chances to get a mandate in favour of the resolution, a committee member pointed out that the favourable vote should have 75 percent majority and 90 members against the resolution can defeat the purpose.