Bengaluru: A lot is at stake for the bigwigs of both Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party in the Bengaluru City Corporation or BBMP polls to be held, this Saturday. The ruling Congress has five ministers from Bengaluru city alone and both the Cabinet ministers from Karnataka in the Modi government are from Bengaluru. BJP's another prominent leader and former deputy chief minister R Ashoka is also from the city.
State Home Minister KJ George, Transport minister B Ramalingareddy, Information and Infrastructure Development Minister R Roshan Baig, Agriculture Minister Krishna Byregowda and Food and Civil Supplies minister Dinesh Gundurao are Congress MLAs from Bengaluru city.
Union Law Minister DV Sadananda Gowda and Union Chemical and Fertilisers minister Ananthkumar are BJP MPs from Bengaluru city. In a way, the BBMP polls have now become a prestige issue for these leaders. Loss of BBMP polls may adversely affect their political future and the positions in the days to come.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has instructed his five ministers to make all possible efforts to ensure the victory of Congress in the BBMP elections. They have been asked to focus on their Assembly seat and surrounding seats. They will have to win the BBMP wards in their Assembly seats to safeguard their interests.
BTM Layout MLA and Transport minister Ramalingareddy has been an MLA since 1989 and won every election since then. He is also Bengaluru city in-charge minister. He is from the BJP stronghold of South Bengaluru. Speaking to IBNLive he said “the Congress is winning the BBMP polls. The BJP has ruined the city and could not even clear the garbage”.
Food and Civil Supplies Minister Dinesh Gundurao is a four-time MLA from Gandhinagar in Central Bengaluru. He is also the president of Bengaluru Metropolitan Congress. He has to ensure that the Congress does well to save his own position. Dinesh Gundurao is the Brahmin face of the Congress. The Brahmins have a large number of votes in the city.
Home Minister KJ George is a veteran of Bengaluru city politics and wields a lot of clout in East Bengaluru. His detractors are hoping that the Congress will lose big time in his area, so that George will lose his face. George is close to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and it is causing a lot of heartburn among the local Congress leaders. George is expected to pull Christian votes towards the Congress.
Agriculture Minister Krishna Beyregowda is close to Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi. He is the MLA of Byatarayanapura in North Bengaluru. He is also a Vokkaliga whose population is sizeable in Bengaluru.
R Roshan Baig is another Congress stalwart from Bengaluru. A prominent Muslim leader Baig has a huge mass appeal in Central Bengaluru. He is now busy wooing the Muslims and others towards Congress. Baig knows the tricks of elections.
Other ministerial aspirants in Congress are already demanding that the ministers who fail to win the BBMP elections in their areas should be dropped. It has become a matter of big worry for these five bigwigs.
BJP's leaders
Union Minister Ananthkumar is a six-time BJP MP from Bengaluru South. Even though he is no longer a powerful person at the Centre, he still enjoys a lot of clout in state BJP and literally controls Bengaluru city BJP. A defeat for the BJP in BBMP polls may go against him and can give an ammunition to his detractors. His opponents within the party are waiting for such a scenario to settle their personal score with him. Moreover his close confidante Subbanna is the city president of the BJP. Ananthkumar has been campaigning actively for the past two weeks.
Law minister Gowda is a new entrant to Bengaluru. He was made to contest the Lok Sabha election from Bengaluru North in 2014. The Modi wave helped him to register a big win. Even though he has no grass root level support in Bengaluru north, he is using his Vokkaliga caste to woo the voters.
R Ashoka is a powerful BJP leader from Bengaluru. A Vokkaliga, Ashoka is the overall in-charge of the BJP campaign in the BBMP polls. His recent alleged statements against the top most BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa and Lingayat caste have dented his image to some extent. A defeat for the BJP will surely weaken his position within the party.
What happens in the election may have a direct impact on the political career of these stalwarts from Bengaluru.
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