Two bigwigs clash for the heart of the city

A 24-year-old political rivalry enters its second round as a Bharatiya Janata Party veteran returns to his seat in the heart of the city to challenge the bastion of a Congress veteran in one of the most keenly fought contests in Bengaluru.

Shivajinagar constituency, from Ulsoor to Sampangiramnagar, has been with R. Roshan Baig, a Minister in the present Congress State government, since delimitation in 2008. Before that, Mr. Baig contested from Jayamahal constituency since 1985, while BJP’s candidate Katta Subramanya Naidu, who had not contested in 2013, won Shivajinagar in 1999 and 2004 before moving to Hebbal in 2008. In 1994, the two veterans clashed, and Mr. Baig, who is 64 now and was with Janata Dal, comfortably beat Mr. Naidu, 67, by a vote share of nearly 20%.

The rematch in 2018 will see the odds stacked against Mr. Naidu, who left the constituency nearly a decade ago as the redrawing of the borders had seen the area come with a sizeable minority vote base. An indication of this is seen in the candidates in the fray: of the 14 candidates, 11 are from minority communities.

Will anti-incumbency hit the six-time MLA? “There is no such thing. It is a congested area, and we developed it as much as we could. I admit the only thing we failed in is garbage management, but that is an issue larger than what I can do in the constituency,” said Mr. Baig.

He claims to have the support of the majority Hindu community too. “We have not allowed communalism to spread, opposing fundamentalism of all religions. I would not have been re-elected if I had not had the support of the Hindu community,” he said.

During canvassing rounds, Mr. Naidu tells minority voters that it is time for change. “There is a sizeable Hindu and Christian population, while we will get votes from the Muslim community who know that no development has happened in this areas,” Mr. Naidu tells The Hindu.

In an effort to stitch this coalition of voters, Mr. Naidu is targeting the sizeable Tamil population in the area, reminding them that it was the BJP government, and his efforts in particular, which has seen the construction of Thiruvalluvar and Sarvajna statues in the city.

However, with BJP not giving a single ticket to a Tamil speaker in the State, and the Congress being blamed for the Cauvery violence last year, which endangered their shops and homes, anger is rising among the community. “For the past few Assembly elections, the Tamil population has sided with Mr. Baig, while in Parliamentary elections, it leans towards BJP. But, both MLA candidates should know that we are not just silent observers or a community that can be ignored after the elections,” said I.M.S. Manivanna, founder-president of the Karnataka Kannada Tamil Federation.

Bhaskar, a shopkeeper in the area, says housing, which is a pressing problem, has been left unaddressed. “People here are poor and most live in rented houses. Rents go up, but daily-wage remains the same,” he says.