Why Bengaluru is a ‘real’ tough nut to crack

Bengaluru is a difficult fortress to breach: each sitting legislator in the city’s 28 constituencies zealously guards his turf, and the local buzz is that at least 20 of them will return to Karnataka’s Vidhana Soudha. Eight seats, however, could witness a contest.

With riches borne of real estate, and remarkable efficiency and accessibility, it appears that these candidates are set to trounce anti-incumbency itself.

The BJP, which has 12 MLAs from Bengaluru, intends to double its tally this time around. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly spoken of returning the ‘Garden City’ to its erstwhile glory and blamed the Siddarmaiah government of turning it into ‘garbage city’.

The Congress’ 2013 tally of 13 legislators has been augmented by the entry of two of the Janata Dal-Secular’s three Bengaluru MLAs: K Akhand Srinivas Murthy (Pulkeshinagar) and BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan (Chamrajpet).

‘Real’ power

The BJP contests the “strong candidate” argument. “People do not vote for candidates. They vote for parties. When I contested elections for the first time, I was a nobody. People voted for the BJP. Now they vote for Hindutva, Modi and BJP,” says BJP veteran and former deputy chief minister KS Eshwarappa.

But this argument is a little thin where real-estate magnates have trounced erstwhile liquor and mining barons in their conquest of the IT city.

Of the 82 candidates in the fray in Bengaluru, 13 have net worth of over ₹100 crore, with the richest candidate in Karnataka — the Congress’ Priya Krishna with declared assets of ₹1,020.53 crore — making a second bid to return to the Assembly. Priya Krishna is the son of M Krishnappa (aka “Layout” Krishnappa) whose declared assets amount to ₹235 crore. While the son is the Congress nominee from Govindrajnagar, the father is seeking re-election from the neighbouring Vijaynagar.

The BJP also has its own share of ultra-rich candidates. NS Nandiesha Reddy, the party’s candidate in Krishnarajpuram is worth ₹320 crore. His Congress opponent, Byrathi Basavraj, a favourite of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, is quite prosperous himself, with declared assets worth ₹46.38 crore.

The JD(S) candidate from Basavanagudi, K Bage Gowda, is also a realtor, with declared assets of ₹320 crore.

In addition to the moneybags, there are stalwarts on both sides. The Congress has fielded a galaxy of ministers and party veterans in Bengaluru – Krishna Byre Gowda, Dinesh Gundu Rao, Ramalinga Reddy, KJ George, R Roshan Baig, among others.

The BJP, at the same time, has legislators who remained unshaken by the desertion of BS Yeddyurappa and held their ground in the 2013 Assembly elections. A number of them, including LA Ravi Subramanya from Basavanagudi, Arvind Limbavali from Mahadevpura, S Suresh Kumar from Rajaji Nagar, Sathish Reddy of Bomanahalli, M Krishnappa from Bangalore South are seeking their third, fourth or even fifth term in office.

The Congress sees Bengaluru as the firmest turf to play on.

“We are quite confident here. Our sitting MLAs would win, and I am including our two senior colleagues who were in the JD(S). George saab (KJ George) is very strong, as is Dinesh Gundu Rao ji , Krishna Byre Gowda and other sitting legislators. Plus we have given very strong candidates, like in Rajaji Nagar where our former Mayor G Padmavati is going to give a very tough fight to S Suresh. We also have Mayor Sampath Raj fighting a very good election in CV Raman Nagar,” says Yashomati Thakur, a Congress MLA from Maharashtra, who is attached to the party war room and coordinating strategy in Bengaluru.

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