BENGALURU: On February 17, Narayanaswamy, a close aide of incumbent
Congress legislator BA Basavaraja, threatened to set a government office on fire over a land issue. This brought to fore an underlying nexus between politicians and land mafia, which many of Basavaraja’s detractors say has made
K R Pura (Krishnarajapura) constituency “lawless.”
Narayanaswamy has since been expelled by Congress and disowned by Basavaraja, who’s hopeful of retaining KR Pura, which he wrested from BJP’s Nandish Reddy in 2013.
Basavaraja, claiming that allegations about ‘lawlessness’ are misinformation campaigns, said: “I have RTIs to show that crime was higher under Reddy. I’m confident that my works like Horamavu railway underpass, Ramamurthynagar additional railway bridge and Cauvery water project have reached people.”
That both Reddy and Basavaraja have fractured images may help the third contender, the spot for which DA Gopal of JD(S) and PVKN Lingaraj Urs of AAP are battling. While Gopal has the legacy of his brother, late former minister A Krishnappa, who won four of the five elections he contested from erstwhile Varthur constituency of which KR Pura was carved out, Urs says the fact that he is a techie and has been a gram panchayat member in Kannamangala for five years will help.
Neither Krishnappa (from the Golla community), nor most others who have won from erstwhile Varthur drew their strength from their caste. Even today, unlike most other constituencies in Bengaluru, KR Pura may not be impacted by caste or community —Kurubas and Vokkaligas add up to only 50,000 of the 4.6 lakh voters, while there are more than 35,000 Muslims.
Political observers say that the trinity of ‘techie, Telugu and Tamil’ voters hold the key to victory. There are nearly 70,000 techie, 40,000 Telugu and 25,000 Tamil voters.
“This time, the vote is for the (PM)
Narendra Modi and against Basavaraja. The vote is for
BJP and against Congress. I will win,” says Reddy, brushing aside observations that he has been missing from the constituency. While Basavaraja still banks on his work, Reddy and Urs are also confident of wooing the ‘Trini-T’ with their own strategies.