BENGALURU: KR Pura is part of the prominent tech corridor of Bengaluru, housing a number of IT companies. The area is also part of the old city municipal corporation, which throws up a contrast in some pockets. Amid development works, traffic chaos, clubbed with bad roads on certain stretches, throw up a challenge for the candidates to address. MLA Byrathi Basavaraj, who is also urban development minister, is banking on his popularity, while the JDS and Congress are yet to announce their candidates.
KR Pura constituency seeks attention for its bad roads, potholes, streetlights, polluted lakes, flooding in low-lying areas, traffic jams, garbage clearance issues and many more, which could play a deciding factor. Stray dog menace and lack of a proper drainage system are adding to the problems. The region has voters from outside Karnataka as well as old CMC area residents. With no BBMP Council, these issues may backfire on Basavaraj, who is facing some degree of anti-incumbency.
The constituency has a large number of Hindu and good number of Muslim voters, a few Christians, besides a Tamil population. Interestingly, Basavaraj shares a good rapport with them. The BBMP councillor-turned-MLA was once closely associated with former CM Siddaramaiah. He won in 2013 and 2018 on a Congress ticket, but in 2019, he quit and joined the BJP. There are a good number of Kuruba voters who are also likely to vote in favour of Byrathi, a Kuruba.
As one of the turncoats, Basavaraj is yet to be completely accepted by BJP workers. This pocket has more traditional Congress voters, and party workers are hoping to get the most out of it. Gopal, an aspirant, said, “I am hopeful of getting the ticket as I have been in the Congress since 1985. I was the KR Pura councillor and know this assembly in and out. Muslims and SC/ST votes are the deciding factor and these are traditional Congress voters.”
Basavaraj also has a good rapport with Muslims. “When a BJP candidate won in 2008, in wards like HAL, Vijinapura and Devasandra, the minority votes for BJP were very low. But in the 2019 bypolls, Byrathi Basavaraj won with a lead of 60,000+ votes, and in all Muslim segments, there was a good number of votes in Basavaraj’s favour,” said Mohammed Hassan, Muslim leader from KR Pura.