Tale highlights
Fight of the Bastions: A WION particular series on political strongholds of India’s most illustrious and voted politicians.
Between extinct Supreme Court prefer Okay.S. Hegde to the quintessential Bengalureans, leisurely Ananth Kumar and Tejasvi Surya — the pool of Lok Sabha individuals representing Bengaluru South has consistently garnered nationwide spotlight. The constituency despatched BJP stalwart Ananth Kumar to Lok Sabha for six phrases in a row since 1996 unless his death in 2018. Whereas Kumar emerged as the first Karnataka leader to kind a defining imprint in the BJP’s central politics, his Bengaluru South successor Tejasvi Surya grew to become the president of BJP formative years wing in 2020, lower than a year after he obtained his first Lok Sabha election.
File photograph of extinct Bengaluru South MP Ananth Kumar with Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Among India’s 543 Lok Sabha constituencies, Bengaluru South has established itself as a defining stronghold of the saffron occasion in the recent decades. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Birthday party candidates agree with obtained from Bengaluru South consistently since 1991, for a total of eight Lok Sabha elections in a row.
Tejasvi Surya used to be elected to Lok Sabha in 2019 after he defeated the Congress occasion outdated B.Okay. Hariprasad by over 330,000 votes, winning over 62 per cent of total votes polled. For the Congress occasion, the danger to interrupt by the BJP’s Bengaluru South castle remains an uphill job. The huge extinct occasion has fielded Sowmya Reddy, daughter of Karnataka transport minister Ramalinga Reddy, in opposition to Surya in Bengaluru South.
Tejasvi Surya and Sowmya Reddy on their respective campaign trails | X/@Tejasvi_Surya; Sowmyreddyr
The Congress occasion is heavily banking on its whisper executive’s ‘Shakti’ guarantee that has allowed ladies folk to sprint in non-luxurious executive buses for free across the whisper. The BJP is underlining the nation’s economic growth in Modi years while promising a ‘developed’ India if the high minister returns to vitality for a third time length in a row.
Forward of Bengaluru South goes to polls on April 26 throughout section-2 of voting, WION interviewed serving Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya. Under are the excerpts:
What makes your constituency Bengaluru South a BJP bastion?
Bengaluru South epitomises a well-trained, cosmopolitan citizens that actively engages with the metropolis’s style. In all probability that’s why they consistently prefer BJP.
Leadership is examined no longer in occasions of abundance nonetheless in occasions of crisis. The other folks of Bengaluru agree with considered me work in the final 5 years and noticed the critical strides in Bengaluru South throughout my first time length.
How assured are you about winning yet again?
In my very first year as MP, we were met with the danger of a once-in-a-century Covid pandemic and I used to be on the frontline. When Bengaluru’s cases were hovering above 40,000 and well being middle beds were unavailable for excessive patients, I known and exposed irregularities in the mattress reserving machine. I also worked on revamping Bengaluru municipality’s Bed Reserving Instrument and internal 100 hours, over 4,026 beds grew to become on hand for excessive patients. At the identical time, I revived 4 defunct hospitals, at the side of 350 beds with Oxygen-crimson meat up for citizens. My place of job also arrange the nation’s ultimate oxygen concentrator bank with over 1,200 concentrators, saving extra than 3,000 lives.
Within the final 5 years, the quantity of Jan Aushadhi Kendras in Bengaluru South agree with risen from 14 to 120 in 2024, making Bengaluru South the constituency with the most effective quantity of these kendras in the nation.
Folks agree with also considered how, after the DJ Halli and KG Halli riots, I efficiently advocated for establishing an NIA place of job in Bengaluru with Union Dwelling Minister Amit Shah Ji for boosting the metropolis’s security.
Extra, here’s a nationwide election for picking the leader for the nation for the subsequent five years. Folks of Bengaluru South, who are inherently nationalistic, will resoundingly encourage Prime Minister Narendra Modi and bless me with an tall margin on April 26.
What are your contributions to Bengaluru South constituency?
The ultimate spotlight is that Bengaluru has purchased projects worth extra than ₹1.3 lakh crore in the final five years on my own from PM Modi, the most effective contribution by any PM.
They contain the approval for the decades-extinct Bengaluru Suburban Railway Project, Half 2A, 2B of Namma Metro at the side of the completion of the Pink Line, 280 km Satellite Town Ring Road around Bengaluru to ease congestion, 1,500 electrical buses for Bengaluru and Nationwide Investigative Company (NIA) Situation of job for the metropolis’s security.
Aside from this, I yet again and yet again adopted by on a prolonged-standing promise for a US Consulate for Bengaluru, pending for the reason that Chief Ministership of SM Krishna, and secured acclaim for it.
For the Sri Guru Raghavendra Cooperative Monetary institution depositors, I pushed for banking reforms which enabled 78 per cent of the depositors to accept over ₹753 crore in deposit insurance.
Moreover, I build all efforts to catch sizable discontinuance-gap funding of ₹900 crore for the stalled Mantri Serenity Condominium by the SWAMIH Fund, serving to over 1,200 households kind their dream of owning a house.
Who plot you preserve to blame for Bengaluru’s potable water crisis? What would you plot to steer clear of the recurrence of this form of crisis?
We agree with considered how the Congress Authorities in Karnataka has mismanaged the water crisis, with about 80 per cent of the wards in the metropolis tormented by an absence. Borewells are working dry and water tankers are either unavailable or charging a bomb even though the Snarl Authorities claims to agree with regulated them.
The Congress Authorities knew about six months ago itself that there’s a drought-admire danger constructing in the whisper and yet, they failed to well spotlight the deficit water availability in the reservoirs throughout a pair of hearings sooner than the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal. The Congress DCM even ‘welcomed’ the harmful orders that were being handed in opposition to the pursuits of Karnataka.
Bengaluru’s water crisis calls for pressing and strategic intervention. Exploring prolonged-time length solutions for offering water security for Bengaluru residents is one in every of my high priorities in the subsequent time length. In conjunction with the active participation of citizens and volunteers, we can point of curiosity on revitalising lakes, bettering rainwater harvesting, and fastidiously enforcing aquifer recharge projects to make sure that prolonged-time length water sustainability for all residents.
As one in every of the nation’s youngest elected MPs, what’s your message for India’s first time voters?
About 10 years ago, the formative years of this nation overwhelmingly elected Sri Narendra Modi Ji as the high minister. Since then, Modi Ji has propelled India from being one in every of the ‘Fragile 5’ economies to world’s fifth-ultimate economy.
PM Modi specializes in formative years-led style. Initiatives admire Startup India and the revamped Nationwide Training Policy agree with positioned India on a trajectory of hastily growth and innovation, in particular benefiting Bengaluru as the startup capital.
Initiatives such as Scheme Olympic Podium Plan (TOPS) and Khelo India agree with empowered our formative years to excel in sports activities, bringing in by no system-considered-sooner than significance to bodily well being of the young abilities. Our executive’s unwavering commitment to nationwide security has ensured that India remains catch and catch, with a nil tolerance policy in opposition to terrorism.
Younger other folks’ votes are mandatory for sustaining this momentum in the direction of making India the sphere’s third-ultimate economy. I reduction first-time voters to participate actively in shaping our nation’s future by supporting a stable, visionary management, and make contributions tall for ‘Ab Ki Baar 400 Paar’.
Bengaluru South is scheduled to vote on April 26. The counting of votes will initiate on June 4, 2024.
Mukul Sharma
Mukul Sharma is a Unusual Delhi-based totally mostly multimedia journalist preserving geopolitical traits in and beyond the Indian subcontinent. Deeply drawn to the affairs
