The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Price rise a major issue in Assembly elections

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Wednesday, May 07, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Price rise a major issue in Assembly elections

T.S. Ranganna, K.V. Subramanya and M. Raghuram

With fixed income, the salaried class is finding it difficult to manage their expenses

Price rise has affected middle-class families in various forms
BJP makes price rise a poll issue in Basavanagudi constituency

Bangalore: While spiralling inflation appears to have hit every section of the electorate in the city, it does not seem to have resulted in voter anger against any one political party.

Syed Rasool Sab, a septuagenarian who lives on Old Masjid Road in Dasarahalli, who had cast his votes in more than ten elections, is cynical about politicians and their ability to control the prices of essentials. No politician, he says, has ever tried to fulfil the promise he had made to the people before elections. He is pessimistic that things would be any different.

H. Gangadharaiah, a clerk in a private factory in the same area, has, however, some hope. He says there could be drastic reduction in prices if the Bharatiya Janata Party comes to power. He recollects that during the National Democratic Alliance rule, essential commodities, including LPG, were available more easily and at more reasonable prices.

“Shirt: Rs. 3, Pant: Rs. 3, Chudidhar: Rs. 6.” Computer-generated printouts announcing the hike in ironing charges greet the customers at almost all the laundries in Nagendra Block in Srinagar ward of the Basavanagudi constituency.

Ashwathappa, who runs a laundry, does not struggle to explain the reason for the sudden increase in the ironing charges. “Prices of almost all the goods have gone up. I cannot run the family if I continue to charge Rs. 2 for a shirt and trouser.”

In the neighbouring Srinivasanagar locality, bank employee S. Mohan is seen involved in a heated discussion with the owner of a hair cutting saloon. Ask Mr. Mohan the reason for his grouse and he says: “All of a sudden he has increased the shaving charge from Rs. 15 to Rs. 20.”

Middle-class hit

The price rise has affected the middle-class families, particularly the salaried class with a fixed income, in various forms. They have been forced to pay more not only for groceries, vegetables and other commodities but also for essential services such as laundry and a hair cut.

The problem is more intense in the Basavanagudi constituency, which has a chunk of salaried people employed in banks, educational institutions, private companies and various government offices. Of the 224 Assembly constituencies in the State, Basavanagudi has the reputation of having the highest number of educated voters and lowest proportion of people living in slums.

V. Niranjana Murthy of N.R. Colony, a small-scale businessman, says that his monthly household expenditure has gone up by around Rs. 2,000. He says the increase in the prices of vegetables and edible oils has affected many middle-class families, who budget their monthly expenditure. “The price of edible oil has gone up by at least Rs. 10 a litre,” he said.

Mr. Murthy is of the view that price rise would be a major issue during the Assembly elections and the people would definitely vote for that party, which they feel, would check inflation.

In the Basavanagudi constituency, it is only the BJP which has made price rise a poll plank.

The party candidate L.A. Ravi Subramanya and his supporters have been distributing pamphlets highlighting the comparative prices of essential commodities during the previous NDA regime (2004) and the present UPA Government (2008).

However, Congress candidate K. Chandrashekar is seeking votes on his achievements as a councillor, Mayor and MLA. Apparently as a strategy, Mr. Chandrashekar does not mention his party’s name in any of the brochures he has brought out to highlight his contribution to the development of the constituency.

Tragedy in slums

In the dirty bylanes of the thickly populated slums of Okalipuram in Gandhinagar constituency, Neelamma sits blowing furiously to ignite her roadside chulha. Smoke billows into her face.

Her husband fetches dried leaves, twigs and few plastic sheets and pieces of old tyres. All this effort for heating water for her 3-month-old baby Kumuda’s bath.

R. Murugan, candidate of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), watches this and asks in Tamil: “Don’t you have any other fuel?” Neelamma says “My quota of kerosene is over and my husband cannot afford to buy kerosene from the open market.”

Following Congress candidate Dinesh Gundu Rao on his campaign, in another part of the same slum, things appear much the same. Dwellers here complain to him that they have not been given BPL cards, no access to drinking water, nor a dwelling fit for human habitation. Mr. Rao tells them that there are plans to build multi-storey dwelling apartments in the slum areas.

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