Sangliana woos Bangalore Central in style

Supercop HT Sangliana filed his nomination for the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency on Friday, April 3, in style, escorted by five gunmen reportedly provided by Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi. He faces a tough fight arraigned against PC Mohan of the BJP and Zameer Ahmed Khan of JD(S).
Mr Sangliana was accompanied by Congress MLAs Harris (Shantinagar), Dinesh Gundurao, RV Venkatesh and his wife Mrs Sangliana. Looking dapper as ever in a suit, the former Police Commissioner of Bangalore proved to be a crowd puller with thousands of people lined up to greet him.  
The estranged BJP MP has found his marbles in the dust bowl of Indian politics. Addressing the media, he described the fight as one between corruption and honesty, the good and the bad. When it came to the former attribute, he was a big zero in it, while his opponents were no match for his honesty, he said.
The Congress nominee for Bangalore Central was a rocky affair with several high profile contenders for the seat. After a lot of suspense which almost threatened to stoke dissension in the party, the green signal came from 1, Safdarjung Road. Sangliana's innate honesty, straight forwardness and charm had won the day.
"I was chosen by Soniaji because the Congress felt I am more matured and trustworthy. I did not make any claims or deals on my vote for the UPA. I stuck to my principled stand. Moreover, in my term as MP, I took up a lot of development works. I promised people that I would deliver in any constituency. After I was disqualified for 8 months following the nuclear vote in June, a few of my promises remain unfulfilled. It is now my desire to pursue the same with even more dedication and make Bangalore Central into a model constituency," Sangliana said.
Mr Sangliana also exuded confidence about his winning chances, stating that Bangalore Central had a substantial proportion of Christian and Muslim votes and educated Hindu votes, which would come to the Congress. He also pointed out that the LS constituency comprised assembly segments which had sizable number of minority votes and were represented by redoubtable Congress MLAs like KJ George (Sarvagnanagar) and Harris (Shantinagar). In addition, other localities like Shivajinagar, CV Raman Nagar, Gandhinagar, Rajajinagar and Chamarajpet also had good number of minority votes, he said.

On the chances of Zameer Ahmed of JD(S) poaching the Muslims votes, he said he could garner a maximum of 30% of the Muslim votes, while the rest were sure to vote Congress. About the equally much talked about Vokkaliga vote, Mr Sangliana said the Vokkaligas were not likely to vote on community lines as they had become fed up with the antics of the Gowdas, and so he also saw an opportunity in this for his party.