Random potholes on roads, construction of illegal shops and huts on pavements in some minority-infested areas and power supply issues are some of the serious challenges confronting citizens in Bengaluru, and these issues will come up to the fore during ensuing polls to 28 assembly segments in the city.
For the prestigious Shantinagar assembly segment, which BJP is keen to wrest this time, the party has drawn out plans to take the battle to the rival camp.
Nalapad Ahmed Haris of Congress has won this seat for three consecutive terms in 2008, 2013 and 2018. “It is enough of Congress rule in this segment…Now it is BJP’s turn to capture this assembly,” says an enthusiastic BJP worker Ravi Subramanyam.
In 2013 when the BJP faced the toughest battles in recent times, the BJP could win 12 seats compared to 13 by Congress. The JD(S) of H D Deve Gowda had won 3. In 2018 also, the competition was tough, and the saffron party managed to win only 11.
However, the entire scenario changed in Bengaluru city and other places when it came to parliamentary polls in 2019, and it was all along a strong ‘Narendra Modi wave’.
“The people of Karnataka will give an appropriate answer to the behaviour of the Congress. Their past corruption, failure to implement promises and failures to give development in Bengaluru and unprecedented arrogance by Congress over Rahul Gandhi episode will all help the BJP to regain toehold,” says Mukesh Srikumar, a resident in the area.
The BJP is focusing on foolproof campaign strategies in key assembly seats such as Shanthinagar, Gandhinagar, Jayanagar, Shivajinagar, Chamarajpet, Sarvagnanagar and Pulikeshinagar.
The Congress had a strong grip in the assembly seats in 2018 owing to many factors, including a substantial number of Muslim voters in these areas. The saffron party is looking for new faces in many of these
segments.
The BJP is keen to tap new -settlers in the city. As part of the electoral strategy, the saffron outfit has been making special endeavours in constituencies like Yelahanka, Mahadevapura and C V Raman Nagar to tap the large army of IT firms workforce and other new-settlers into the city.
A specially designed electoral strategy is being unleashed in some of these constituencies, such as Mahadevapura assembly segment. This assembly covers Outer Ring Road areas, Kadugodi or Whitefield localities, Bellandur ward on Outer Ring Road and also hubs like Marathahalli. This region is now a major information technology hub.
“The civic requirements of people here should reflect the aspirations of outsiders and new comers into the city,” says a BJP poll manager from the constituency.
According to AIMIM leaders, however, there was a drop in “Muslim representation in the assembly in 2018”.So these issues may be played up by certain political quarters, but the local BJP leaders say the BJP
believes in diversity and pluralism, and last few years, the city has been witness to inclusive development.
A BJP worker from Mahadevapura also says that with many new residents moving in the last few years, the voter base has increased to around four lakhs. This constituency now houses well-known corporate and IT giants, including Dell EMC, Ericsson, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise and Samsung.
For Congress, there are inherent problems, sources say.
In 2018, there was a dynastic plan when the grand old party had fielded Sowmya Reddy, daughter of the then Home Minister Ramlinga Reddy from Jaynagar.
Other assembly segments where BJP will fight out sincerely are Hebbal and Shivajinagar. In 2018, Katta Subramanya Naidu was pitted against Roshan Baig in Shivajinagar.
For Mahadevapura assembly in the outskirts, the BJP leadership had reposed faith in Aravind Limbavali.
The saffron party that won 11 seats in Bengaluru in 2018 is this time eyeing about 20 seats. The Congress bagged 14 and JD(S) 2.
The saffron party’s tally went up to 14 because of defection from Congress in 2019.
