TUMAKURU: The BJP nominee for the Sira bypoll, Dr CP Rajesh Gowda, might be a debutant in electoral politics, but has seen it from close quarters. His father Chirathahalli Mudalagiriyappa was three-time Lok Sabha member from Chitradurga and represented Sira as MLA for one term. His uncle, P Mudlegowda, too was Independent MLA from Sira for a term.
Until his Matrix Imaging Solutions, in which former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s son Dr Yathindra was a director, ran into a controversy after it bagged the tender for setting up a laboratory at Victoria Hospital in Bengaluru in 2016, Rajesh Gowda was in the shadows.The BJP, which was in the opposition then, had opposed the tender being given to Matrix, and on the Congress high command’s directive, Siddaramaiah had asked Yathindra to quit the company.Rajesh Gowda talks about his personal equations and his political challenges: Excerpts:
Is Dr Yathindra, the Congress MLA from Varuna, still in touch with you?
We are close friends, but ideologically poles apart and hence, I didn’t take up the Congress party membership. It’s been a long time since we spoke to each other. When the controversy erupted during 2016, he resigned as director from my company. Now, my wife Dr M U Tejaswini, a pathologist, looks after it.
The BJP then had opposed the tender given to your company.
Yes, but we did not get into the business overnight. Also, we bagged the tender for quoting the lowest bid and the PPP model laboratory has helped thousands of people. Our’s is a NABL-accredited laboratory and we have set up facilities even at the ESI Hospital at Rajajinagar in Bengaluru and in Mumbai during 2009.
This is your debut in electoral politics. What challenges do you see?
This is the first time I have taken membership of any political party and I am pleased to be a BJP worker. There are a lot of issues that need to be resolved in the constituency in the remaining two-and-half years of the term. This means there will be a lot of responsibilities on my shoulders as people’s expectations are also high since the BJP is in power.
What are your priorities?
The top-most priority will be to get a permanent irrigation project implemented as there are none in this arid region. Wherever I have visited, people in the villages have stressed on the need for irrigation facilities.
What prompted you to take the political plunge?
I have been into social service for several years now. Anybody from Sira who visits my laboratories in Bengaluru for any kind of medical investigation, can get it done free of cost. There was pressure from the people of the constituency that I should take my social service initiatives to the next level.
Who do you see as your biggest opponent?
It’s definitely the Congress party’s TB Jayachandra. It will be a straight fight between us and I am confident of winning as people want change.
Jayachandra has alleged that your father and uncle did not contribute much to Sira as MP and MLA. How will you respond?
I refute this charge. Wherever I have visited, the people pointed to the work my father and uncle did, including welfare programmes. I used to miss my father as he always used to be amongst the people. Moreover, those days, the grants for MPs and MLAs were also less and, despite the limitations, they did a lot for the people.
Bengaluru boy
Dr C P Rajesh Gowda (47) did his MBBS and MD at the Adichunchanagiri Institute of Medical Sciences. He was born and brought up in Bengaluru and studied II PUC at Seshadripuram College. His wife, Dr M U Tejaswini, is a pathologist who looks after Matrix Imaging Solutions that Rajesh founded. The couple has two school-going daughters.