Transgender activist Akkai and team campaign for RR Nagar Congress candidate H Kusuma

BENGALURU: Akkai Padmashali (35), transgender activist, has started door-to-door campaigning for Congress candidate H Kusuma who is contesting from Rajarajeshwari Nagar assembly constituency.Last month, Akkai had joined the Congress in the presence of KPCC president D K Shivakumar at their party office in Bengaluru. She is the first transgender to join the mainstream and a national political party in the Southern State representing the sexual minority community. About 50 people from the community were also present when she was inducted into the party.

Akkai along with her community members and some party City MLAs are given the campaigning task in RR Nagar constituency. Speaking to TNIE, Akkai said, “I was there with Kusuma when she filed her nomination on Wednesday.’’Though busy in her activism, Akkai is trying to manage both. “I stay in Byappanahalli. Sometimes I take my two-wheeler, sometimes Metro to reach RR Nagar by 10 am and start campaigning. We have teams that include some Congress MLAs and leaders. I also have a few members from my community,’’ she said. There are around 500 voters from her community in RR Nagar. 

For Akkai, it is the first time that she is campaigning in Bengaluru. “It is an experience. I try to explain to people about why they should vote for Kusuma. She is a first-timer, educated and she needs to be given a chance. I also tell the public how their money is wasted in polls just because someone jumped the party,’’ she said.According to sources, in the long run, Congress has plans to give her a seat in the Upper House in the State or at the Centre. This is just a beginning.