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Byre Gowda fights to retain Byatarayanapura bastion

Maqsood Maniyar | NT

Bengaluru: Former minister Krishna Byre Gowda is eying his fourth consecutive term in Byatarayanapura Assembly constituency while BJP challenger HC Thammesh Gowda hopes that the Congressman has gathered enough anti-incumbency to be toppled this time around.

To Congress’ delight, there has been some internal strife within the BJP camp over selection of a candidate between Thammesh, former Jakkur ward corporator K Munindra Kumar and A Ravi who has lost Byre Gowda thrice in a row.

Of course, Thammesh won out and his rivals pledged support but it is whispered that the same hasn’t been forthcoming. What does work in BJP’s favour is the fact that people may seek a change after three terms by the same MLA. Moreover, the Congress MLA had won a small margin of 5,671 votes last time.

Meanwhile, JD(S) has fielded Nagaraj P from the seat. Interestingly, all three candidates come from the influential Vokkaliga community. Byatarayanapura is different from other constituencies in that roughly 14 per cent of its voters are rural. The rest are either urban or semi-urban. Moreover, the main area is off Mysore Road but the segment covers everything from Jakkur to Kuvempu Nagar.

The complaint is that posh areas such as Sahakar Nagar and other urban areas are taken care of but rural areas in the constituency lack basic infrastructure. Sudhakar who runs a juice shop near Byatarayanapura police station said that the constituency was well kept with everything from parks, roads, drains being maintained with a government school nearby.

Others on the other hand said that there was no government hospital in the constituency, which was a major drawback, adding that Cauvery drinking water was unavailable to a great many people. Many others seek a change and vote for BJP along party lines and care little for candidates. Raghavendra, who lives in Kavita Layout said that his area didn’t necessarily have any major issues but favoured BJP. One Manjunath echoed this sentiment.

Niranjan Murthy from Kasturba Nagar said he would vote for BJP because he was an admirer of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Byre Gowda seemed supremely confident of his victory. “I have a spotless clean record in public life,” he said. He has gone on record to say that adding to his own popularity in his constituency will be the anti-incumbency against the BJP State government.