TUMAKURU: This gram panchayat candidate will not go down without a fight. Even if she loses! And with an unusual manifesto which is grabbing eyeballs, she’s all the rage on social media too. Her manifesto even managed to catch the attention of Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar.
Meet Gangamma H, a Dalit, who is contesting from not one, but two gram panchayat seat - Kalkere and Doddaguni in Hebburu Gram Panchayat, just to be safe. While she's pitted against two men in Kalkere, she will be taking on five men in Doddaguni, which are General category seats.
And what are her poll promises? If she wins, she has listed development works like getting the title deed done in a temple’s name, building a platform at a peepal tree (aralikatte), constructing a road as per the map, and a good drain to ensure free flow of rainwater.
Well, what happens if she loses? She warns that she will get the BPL ration cards of 25 'undeserving' families cancelled, get the pensions of 40 families under different schemes cancelled 'for giving false information', develop a graveyard as per the old records and evict 11 families 'who have encroached upon government land'. In a footnote, she has buttressed her claims, saying that she had got the bills for six houses under housing schemes stopped over alleged illegal allotments.
Gangamma's contest against feudal mindset'
Not surprisingly, many on social media wished that Gangamma loses, so she could cleanse the system of corruption. Gangamma's husband Kalkere Srinivas, who has stood solidly behind her, told The New Indian Express that her contest is symbolic against the feudal mentality of certain people who had also tried to get themselves unanimously elected through auctioning of seats.
Interestingly, Srinivas himself has contested the Lok Sabha polls thrice as an Independent, despite losing his deposit. Gangamma, who has passed Class 10, is mother to a boy and girl. In the last gram panchayat polls, she had garnered 80 votes in Kalkere
Phase 1 tomorrow
The first phase of the GP polls will be held on Tuesday. Voters are mostly looking forward with hope of having better roads, houses and local employment opportunities.