U.R. Ananthamurthy

BANGALORE: The literary and academic community, led by Jnanpith Award-winner U.R. Ananthamurthy, has come out in support of K.S. Lakshmi, the candidate fielded by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for the June 17 election to the Legislative Council from the Bangalore Graduates' constituency.

Karnataka is one of the few States to have a Legislative Council, and it is reprehensible that elections to the House of Elders have degenerated to the level of Assembly elections, with money, caste and community playing a major role in who wins, Dr. Ananthamurthy told presspersons here on Thursday.

Appeal

He and other like-minded persons have issued an appeal to voters urging them to vote for Ms. Lakshmi because, they feel, the growing trend of fielding full-time politicians for seats to be filled by graduates or teachers is very disturbing, and it is eroding the unique character of the Council.

These constituencies were created so that eminent persons in various fields could get elected and the State legislature would derive the benefit of their collective experience and talent in the governance process. "But the question today is how much credibility do the nominated and elected members of the Legislative Council enjoy," Dr. Ananthamurthy asked, warning that if voters did not answer this question, the demand for abolishing the Council could gain ground and become more and more strident.

Full-time politicians

There are several MLCs who have been elected for the fourth or fifth time, but they are so immersed in party politics that it is difficult to see how they can honestly serve the cause of the graduate constituency they represent or solve the problems facing the teachers, the appeal said. Ms. Lakshmi is also supported by the Communist Party of India, the Samajwadi Party and Sarvodaya Karnataka. "We hope to evolve a new political culture in Karnataka, which is confronted with myriad problems — border disputes with neighbouring States, river-water sharing, language controversy, unemployment and mounting cost of education — and a fresh perspective is now needed to address these persisting problems," the signatories to the appeal said.

`No lobby'

The CP (M) has said that Ms. Lakshmi is neither backed by any powerful lobby nor does she believe in resorting to unethical means to win.

She has been a leader of the Bangalore University student community and later become a member of the University Senate. She has participated in many campaigns of the CPI(M) and the Janavadi Mahila Sanghatan.

Other eminent persons who have joined Dr. Ananthamurthy in this appeal are another Jnanpith Award-winner Girish Karnad, filmmaker Girish Kasaravalli, writers K. Marulasiddappa, Baragur Ramachandrappa, G.K. Govinda Rao, G. Ramakrishna, Vijaya, Rangareddy Kodirampura, Gayatri N. and B. Suresh.

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