'I’m contesting to defeat the George brand of politics'

Aam Aadmi Party’s Karnataka convener and national executive member Prithvi Reddy calls himself a romantic. But the elaborate groundwork he has done in Bengaluru’s Sarvagnanagar assembly constituency, where he is taking on Congress heavyweight KJ George, reveals a hard-nose at work. During an interaction at The Times of India office, Reddy admitted the forces he is ranged against are formidable but said he hopes to win hearts and votes based on real issues.
How important is the Karnataka election for AAP?
We see Karnataka as an important platform to propagate the idea of alternative politics, and we’ve taken this assembly election seriously. Through our campaigns for the election, we want to fight the kind of politics done by traditional parties. AAP sees a lot of scope in Karnataka for the pro-people governance that is being practised by our party in New Delhi.

The electorate here rejected the corrupt BJP in 2013 and hoped Congress would provide an honest alternative, but the situation has only worsened. The state was ranked most corrupt by the Centre for Media Studies in 2017 and Bengaluru was declared worst governed city in the country, according to an ASICS Survey this year.

How many seats do you expect to win?
We are hoping to win a few seats for now as this is only the beginning of AAP’s journey in Karnataka politics. We have fielded around 30 candidates and are hopeful of winning a few of the seats. It has been a challenge to convince good people to join politics and contest elections. In fact, after the two national parties announced their lists, we have been getting calls from candidates (who didn’t get tickets) seeking to contest on AAP ticket. While it would have been easy to field such candidates, most of them did not meet our criteria.

What is your prediction on the final seats tally in this election?
I foresee a hung assembly. There are chances of a coalition government with political parties trying various permutations and combinations for the same. Whatever may be the case, I anticipate another election in about two years as the coalition wouldn’t be tenable, given that all three parties are opportunistic and power hungry.

Would you be part of the Congress-JD(S) coalition or the BJP-JD(S) one?
We prefer to sit in the opposition and not be part of any coalition as none of the three parties has the same ideology as AAP.

How confident are you about your chances against sitting MLA KJ George in Sarvagnanagar?
If there was no chance of winning, I wouldn’t have contested. That said, this election is about more than just defeating George. It is about fighting to change the brand of politics he represents. I’ve not found anybody speaking good about George, but they still vote for him. I hope it changes this time. We’ve been campaigning door to door and most people want change. Sarvagnanagar has been recording low voter turnouts due to lack of choice. This time, they have a choice in AAP and this can be seen in the enthusiasm shown by citizen groups and RWAs in preparing their charter of demands.

George has exuded confidence that he will win this time too...
It is not surprising, given that the BJP has given up the fight. The constituency is so fragmented that BJP is not even campaigning in some areas, as it knows the party’s candidate will not get votes. Similarly, Congress too keeps off areas that are unlikely to vote for George.