Congress exudes confidence

Why go with old horse, bet on the winning horse

Is south Bangalore thirsting for a change? The winds of change are blowing softly. By the time the day of the reckoning, it remains to be seen if this wind dies down, or builds up momentum to become a giant gale. .
A lot of voters feel that it is time for a change, and to pick a new stallion in place of the old war horse. Four-time MP Ananth Kumar of the BJP is facing a stiff challenge from Krishne Byre Gowda of the Congress.
Sometimes familiarity breeds contempt. Or it could be the fatigue factor. And Ananth Kumar's status as a national leader has ironically worked against his favour to a significant extent.
Congress leader Suresh who lost to BN Vijaykumar of the BJP in the Jayanagar assembly election, says people remember Ananth Kumar for his "zero visibility, zero access, and zero performance". The BJP leader was always in Delhi and never available to the people of his constituency, he said.
Unlike the last time, Congress is now united and there is no dissidence or rebel candidate, he remarked. In the previous assembly election, Samiulla contested as a Congress rebel and took away a substantial percentage of the minority votes. This time, there is no chance of the traditional Congress vote getting split, including the minorities vote, he stated.
The Congressman also alleged that people were very much aware of the Hudco scam that happened during Ananth Kumar's tenure as central minister. At the state level, the citizens of Bangalore found the SAS to be a severe burden under which they were paying three times more than the property tax they were paying.
The BJP was also well known for raking up emotional issues on the basis of religion and its divisive policies, he said, and remarked that all these was in stark contrast to the image and persona of the Congress candidate, Krishne Byre Gowda, who is young, dynamic, accessible and result-oriented 3-time MLA.
The perception in Congress circles is that the youth vote will swing towards them in a big way, going by the response in the campaign trail. Bangalore south has a substantial percentage of young voters and these people are impressed with his demeanor and style. Though coming from a political family, Krishne Byre Gowda does not speak like a professional politician and shows a wariness while talking politics. He seems to be more at home talking about real issues like bad roads, drainage problems, etc, rather than big sounding issues, a party worker said.
KBG's supporters keep up this refrain in the campaign. They are harping on the theme that the BJP and Ananth Kumar are obsessed with issues that do not directly impact the common man such as the Ram temple, they keep up the debate on emotional issues like terrorism, whereas the Congress and their candidate Krishne Byre Gowda, are focused on bringing about a real change in the lives of the common man.
A Congress supporter works up a small crowd in front of Dairy Circle, "It was when SM Krishna was the CM that Bangalore saw a lot of development in the form of flyovers and parks. Has the BSY government developed a single park? It is busy giving away funds to religious mutts."
For the BJP, the minority vote has always been a problem. In south Bangalore, this problem takes bigger proportions given the sizable chunk of minority votes. The Congress is banking on these votes and is fully confident of winning them over, given the recent instances of moral policing in Mangalore.
KBG is also being projected as Karnataka's Rahul Gandhi, which is expected to sway the young votes.
Mallikarjun, a resident of Jayanagar, says the BJP has let the people down. Ananth Kumar has never raised any issue concerning Bangalore and Karnataka, and the people are fed up with the Sangh Parivar's ideology of divide and rule. The profile and expectations of the voters has changed, he said, and the young voter is more demanding than before.
Sudhir Coushik, businessman and longtime resident of Jayanagar says he has never seen Ananth Kumar in his constituency excepting during the elections. The need of the hour is representatives who work hand in hand with the people and are seen to do so, he said. In contrast to the inaccessible Ananth Kumar, he pointed out that Krishne Byre Gowda is young at 35 years of age, was often seen going round in his two-wheeler with people, and did not mind getting his legs muddied while inspecting a drain.
Sudhir pointed out the example of the US where the educated voters of America chose a young President in Obama, rather than the seasoned veteran John McCain. Similarly, he said Krishne Byre Gowda represented youth and change.
K.S. Samiulla, Ex. Corporator and Congress rebel candidate in the recent assembly election for Jayanagar  constituency  who secured 12000 votes in that elections, said the minority vote will be the difference between winning and losing this time. The fact that Congress was putting up an united front was a pointer in the right direction, he said.
Samiulla said that in south Bangalore the minorities are the majority. In Jayanagar assembly constituency alone, there are 52,000 minority votes, out of which his party is sure of getting 80% of the votes. The wards that are predominantly minority community dominated in Jayanagar are Gurapanapalaya, New Gurapanapalya, Tilaknagar, Bismillah Nagar, Byresandra, Puttaiayanapalya, Corporation Colony and BTM 1st Stage.
The minority community would particularly vote for a party that was known to be secular and that's why their choice would be Congress, he said. Describing Ananth Kumar as a MP who made only a guest appearance in his five-year tenure, he said the BJP candidate was seen only during the Ragigudda temple week-long celebrations, and Ganesh Chaturthi ceremony.

Vote for Karnataka's Rahul Gandhi
Chandrashekar Raju, youth leader like Krishna Byre Gowda said the youngsters were very disappointed and angry with the BJP's moral policing and efforts to divert the attention of the people from the core issues of governance.  former Corporator N. Nagaraju stated that he along with the other leaders and workers would go all out to ensure the success of Krishna Byre Gowda. "He is young, dynamic, accessible, educated, progressive, non-corrupt, and has a vision for developing Bangalore south. We need more of such candidates like him," he said.
Nagaraju also pointed out that the fact that he was a direct choice of youth icon Rahul Gandhi would enthuse the party cadre to ensure his win. He, along with Suresh, the Jayanagar MLA candidate who lost in the previous elections , would work under the guidance of Ramalinga Reddy and expose the wrong doing of Ananth Kumar, while stressing on the plus points of their party's candidate, he said
"In Pattabhiramangar ward we had gone to each and every house to seek votes along with the candidate Krishna Byre Gowda and his wife and we were welcomed in to their houses as if we were their relatives," said Nagaraju, exuding confidence about winning.
Banking on women votes
Congressman Ramachandra  Raju said during the campaign, many women expressed their apprehension about the Sangh Parivar's brazen moral policing. They thoroughly disapproved of the Ram Sene and its activities, and promised to extend their support in large numbers to Congress.
Dr. S. Harish said he had first hand knowledge of Krishne Byre Gowda's performance as MLA in Byatarayanpura assembly constituency, where he had undertaken many health and welfare development programmes such as women welfare and child welfare, conducted many free health camps, and held special programmes for youngsters. He is also a patron for an organization called National Rural Health Vision which works very actively in serving the rural people in the field of health with more than 600 doctors.