The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : A tech-savvy battle is on in Byatarayanapura On the campaign Trail

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Wednesday, May 07, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

A tech-savvy battle is on in Byatarayanapura On the campaign Trail

Bangalore Bureau

Civic, security and livelihood problems to be addressed in the newly formed constituency

The websites reflect the candidates’ achievements and visions for the constituency
The constituency has bad roads, poor drainage and scarcity of drinking water

— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Web mania: Krishna Byre Gowda, Congress candidate for Byatarayanapura, addressing garment factory workers in Bangalore on Tuesday.

BANGALORE: The newly formed Byatarayanapura Assembly constituency — which presents an uneven mix of posh localities and infrastructure-starved revenue layouts; IT and BPO companies and villages; sophisticated private educational institutions and under-funded government schools — is witnessing a tech-savvy poll battle.

The Janata Dal (Secular) and the Congress candidates have resorted to hi-tech mode of communication to reach out to voters.

Janata Dal (S) State Working President and former Bangalore North MP C. Narayanaswamy, who is contesting from this constituency, has launched his website (cnarayanaswamy.com).

Another site

Not to lag behind, Congress candidate and Karnataka Pradesh Youth Congress President Krishna Byre Gowda, who has shifted from Vemagal of Kolar district, has also launched his website (krishnagowda.in).

Replete with their achievements, these websites also contain the candidates’ visions for their constituency.

Mr. Narayanaswamy, who was honoured by the President of India for his achievement as president of the then Bangalore Rural Zilla Parishad, is promising people a replication of his ZP experiment to tackle the infrastructure woes of the constituency.

Byatarayanapura has 2,62,278 voters, including 1,24,201 women, and comprises areas such as Kodigehalli, Jakkur, Vidyaranyapura and Sampigehalli.

Mr. Krishna Byre Gowda, who did his postgraduation in Washington DC, is trying to lure youth with similar promises of developing the constituency.

The Congress, which had recently organised a youth convention addressed by All India Congress Committee General Secretary Rahul Gandhi in this constituency, is trying to use that to its advantage.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded a first-timer, A. Ravi, a Sangh Parivar activist from childhood who had been jailed during emergency along with other BJP leaders when he was hardly 15 years old.

Several BJP leaders, including Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, have addressed campaign meetings in this constituency.

Problems aplenty

Even as the poll campaign is going on at a brisk pace, the residents of the constituency are haunted by several problems like bad roads, lack of proper drainage and scarce drinking water, which have assumed crisis proportions in a large number of revenue pockets.

Water-logging

In fact, several areas like Bhadrappa Layout are infamous for water-logging during heavy rains.

The district administration had demolished several buildings in a belated effort to clear the catchment areas of settlements.

Some localities such as Tata Nagar, developed for employees of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, have even received notices from the district administration to demolish their houses, for this reason.

Theft

Security has also been a major concern in several of the newly-formed layouts in this constituency, thanks to the increasing number of thefts and burglaries.

Farmers’ angst

But the most important issue, with State-wide implications, is the acquisition of agricultural lands by government and private agencies, at the cost of the livelihood of hundreds of farmers.

Poll promises

Both Congress and the Janata Dal (S) have expressed their intentions to take up “holistic development models” where farmers will not be sidelined in the march towards progress.

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