BENGALURU: Just a month before the Lok Sabha elections, not many people knew who S Muniswamy was. Even after the BJP announced his candidature, not many were sure of his abilities to take on someone as formidable as former Union Minister KH Muniyappa, who had won seven LS polls in a trot. However, the 44-year-old member of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) went on to defeat Muniyappa by a huge margin of over two lakh votes. His is a journey from being a gram panchayat member to a Parliamentarian, all within a span of just 15 years.
Though Muniswamy has roots in Malur taluk of Kolar, he is been in Bengaluru for the last four decades. An agriculturist by profession, he had enrolled for LLB degree but did not complete it. While his father is an agriculturist, none of his family members has any political connection whatsoever. Muniswamy had also worked as an office bearer at NSUI and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, Muniswamy said back during his college days, some 20 years back, he contested the gram panchayat election, but he lost. However, in 2004, he not only won the gram panchayat election from Seegehalli Panchayath but also served as its vice president. He was also the president of Maxicab Union and had protested on their behalf outside Mahadevapura MLA Aravind Limbavali’s office. It is said that Limbavali was so impressed with him that he asked him to join the BJP.
Muniswamy worked for a BJP MP candidate for Bengaluru Central in 2014. In 2015, Limbavali referred Muniswamy’s name for Kadugodi and he was then elected as BBMP councillor for the first time in 2015.
In 2018, Muniswamy was BJP’s candidate for mayoral election but he lost against Congress-JDS candidate Sampath Raju.
With the anti-Muniyappa wave within the Congress coupled with BJP’s idea of putting some outsider favoured Muniswamy who defeated the former Union Railway Minister. But even after his victory, he is not too keen on resigning from the councillor’s post.
“I will attend the BBMP council meeting as well as the Assembly sessions at the Parliament,’’ he said. Interestingly, there is no law which says one cannot hold two posts at a time.