These polls, more realtors are lining up for tickets

BENGALURU: With political parties increasingly looking for candidates who can fund their own campaigns, realtors are making a beeline for party tickets in the run up to assembly polls in Karnataka. The trend, which cuts across party lines, is largely seen in Bengaluru and other major urban centres of the state.
Although the trend of realtors entering the electoral fray began in 2008, it is at its peak now. In Bengaluru, at least a dozen realtors, many of them first-timers, are hoping to throw their hats in the ring in the city’s 28 constituencies. Prominent among those are G Lallesh Reddy, a landlordturned-realtor, who is aspiring for a BJP ticket to contest against four-time MLA and home minister Ramalinga Reddy.


Newbie Reddy, who holds a post-graduate degree in MBA and a Bachelor’s Degree in civil engineering, said he has been working in the constituency for some years now. “ I thought it is the responsibility of people with knowledge, education, commitment and sincerity to enter politics and change the system,”

he said. “I have been doing some social work for last few years and managed to earn the confidence of voters. I am now confident of taking on the home minister.”

Realtor-turned-politician, MLC Byrathi Suresh, a cousin of K R Puram MLA Byrathi Basavaraj, has been working for three years now to contest against Y A Narayanaswamy of BJP from Hebbal. Another prominent land developer Hanumanthe Gowda is planning to contest on a JD(S) ticket from Hebbal.

“Suresh and Basavaraj are closely associated with chief minister Siddaramaiah and they belong to the Kuruba community to which Siddaramaiah belongs,” sources in the Congress party said. “So he is likely to get a ticket.”

The long list of aspiring realtors also includes Mukesh Shetty popularly known as BDA Mukesh, U B Venkatesh, Gotigere Manjunath, SLN Manjunath, Naresh Kumar, Ramesh Reddy (Madhugiri), Ramalingappa (Bagepalli) and Pritam Gowda (Hassan).

Karnataka has a history of realtors seeking to walk the corridors of power. Housing minister M Krishnappa, popularly known as Layout Krishnappa, won from Vijayanagar on a Congress ticket. His son Priya Krishna, the richest politician in the current assembly, also won on a Congress ticket from Govindarajnagara. The list includes K J George, Satish Reddy from Bommanahalli and S R Vishwanath from Yelahanka.