Bangaloreans hope to get able representatives

BANGALORE - The electorate of India’s IT hub are hoping that they have voted for strong leaders who can help the city overcome the ‘twin trouble’ of economic slowdown and lack of civic amenities.

‘Being India’s IT hub, the city is facing the heat of the economic slowdown. Only strong leaders will be able to tackle the issue. Moreover, civic amenities like water and electricity are of major concern in Bangalore,’ septuagenarian Amar Kumar, a retired government employee and resident of J.P. Nagar, told IANS.

Echoing similar views, Dinanath Mohan, senior executive with an IT firm, said Bangalore being the tech city of India has suffered heavily due to global recession.

‘There is no data available about the number of IT and BPO professionals who have lost jobs in Bangalore in recent times, but a large number of software and BPO professionals are losing their jobs and it is a fact. Under such circumstances, we want a strong leadership to take the matter seriously and do the needful, to avoid huge losses in the industry,’ said Mohan.

‘Civic amenities and infrastructure, mostly the roads, are in shambles. Only good governance run by apt leaders could solve the city’s problems,’ he added.

Around 600,000 people are working in IT and ITES (IT enabled services) industry in Bangalore.

The city has three constituencies - Bangalore Central, Bangalore South and Bangalore North.

Bangalore Central saw a triangular battle between Congress leader and former cop H.T. Sangliana, BJP’s P.C. Mohan and B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan of the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S).

Along with BJP’s H.N. Anantha Kumar, the four-time winner of South Bangalore constituency, the other prominent names vying for the prestigious constituency include Krishna Byre Gowda of Congress, low-cost airline pioneer captain G.R. Gopinath (Independent) and educationist-turned-politician K.E. Radhakrishna of JD-S.

Bangalore North saw D.B. Chandre Gowda of BJP locking horns with Congress veteran C.K. Jaffer Sharief, and R. Surendra Babu of JD-S.

Ask the electorate which political party (out of Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S)) will get the maximum seats, voters said they were not bothered about which party wins, but would like to see strong and upright leaders get elected. Karnataka has 28 Lok Sabha seats.

‘If a politician is strong enough, he will definitely fulfil all his duties and responsibilities. It hardly matters whether he is from Congress, BJP or JD-S. We want them to work for overall progress of the city,’ said bank employee Prabin Mehta, a Bangalorean for the last 15 years.

However, when it came to voting, Bangalore fared poorly.

On April 23, when the city voted for three of its constituencies, along with 17 others in the state, only 46.66 percent of electorate exercised their franchise.

‘Bangaloreans want good governance and leaders. There is nothing wrong in their wishes. But when it came to voting, they shied away from their responsibility. Due to the lackadaisical attitude of the people, the city might end up choosing wrong leaders,’ observed Sandeep Shastri, senior political analyst.