Congress, BJP learn that bailing on Bengaluru comes at a price

Last week, Bengaluru’s citizenry got a surprise in the form of a suggestion by Karnataka’s industries and infrastructure minister, RV Deshpande. The veteran leader told the media he had submitted a proposal to the Prime Minister’s Office to make Bengaluru the country’s second capital, on the grounds that it was safe from natural calamities, attacks by external forces and would also “help in the deeper integration of south India”. It would, he had written, “give voice to the aspirations of millions of south Indians to feel they are part of the national mainstream”.



While some industry leaders, such as Biocon founder Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, welcomed the idea, others were not so kind. Many pointed out that the city needed to get its basic infrastructure in order before embarking on these grandiose ideas while some bemoaned that this would attract more migrants into a city already overrun by “outsiders,” a pet peeve of some of the city’s residents. With election season around the corner, it was also suggested that this might be one more attempt by the incumbent Congress to woo Bengaluru.

But Deshpande is quick to deny that his idea had anything to do with politics. At his homeoffice in a lane facing the Bangalore Turf Club, Deshpande insists he keeps development apart from his politics. “Every issue should not be related to politics,” says the senior minister, adding that the current Congress government under Chief Minister Siddaramaiah made the highest ever allocation for Bengaluru city by way of a special package. The PMO, he says, was yet to respond but he was optimistic about the idea which, he said, many were complimenting him for.

S Suresh Kumar, a former urban development minister with the BJP, is less charitable in his assessment. “A second capital in a country will not give advantages, unlike a second capital in a state… Instead of coming up with practical solutions to fix the city’s problems, this government is coming up with fancy ideas.” Keeping the approaching elections in mind, this might also be an attempt on Deshpande’s part to make his presence felt, adds Kumar.

Political economist Narendar Pani, too, feels Deshpande’s proposal might be an election gimmick. “The Congress is under pressure to create an impression that it is doing something for the city.”


Wooing Voters
The last one year has seen a flurry of activity by the incumbent Congress government to shake off the image that it was apathetic to the city’s demands. Though both the BJP and Congress vie to take credit for it, the entire 42.3-km stretch of Phase 1 of the Bangalore Metro was finally completed last June, offering a welcome respite from the city’s notorious traffic in some areas. Over the course of the year, the government opened over 150 Indira Canteens across the city, which offers breakfast, lunch and dinner at highly subsidised rates, along the lines of the Amma Canteens launched in Tamil Nadu.

It has also embarked on the construction of 1,00,000 homes for the urban poor who have been living in the city for at least five years, and announced upgrading 90 of the city’s roads with separate areas for pedestrians and cyclists, parking bays the widening of various stretches and a signal-free corridor on a critical 17-km stretch of the Outer Ring Road.

In a recent interview, CM Siddaramaiah told ET, “The problem with Bengaluru is we have the largest number of two-wheelers in our city compared to any other city in India. We are expanding metro connectivity and improving the public transport service to reduce congestion on roads. I have also provided Rs 7,300 crore for white-topping and improving city roads.” There have also been some cosmetic changes, such as giving the city a “brand identity” with a new logo unveiled with much fanfare late December.



Apathetic Electorate
Faced with the BJP’s impressive performance in urban areas in Gujarat polls, Siddaramaiah is pulling out all stops to woo Bengalureans. The city’s 28 Assembly seats can make or mar the chances of a political party in Karnataka’s 224-seat Assembly. In the 2013 elections, the Congress and BJP were nearly neck-and-neck, while former PM HD Deve Gowda’s JD (S) won three seats in the city.

Deshpande, however, declined to say how many seats they would win in Bengaluru, while Congress Rajya Sabha MV Rajeev Gowda says he expects the party to win around 17 seats. “It will be a close contest,” he says. BJP’s Kumar is confident of winning at least 20, as indicated by the party’s internal surveys. The BJP would also have the relief of knowing that its votes would not be split unlike in 2013, when BS Yeddyurappa had rebelled and pit his new outfit, KJP, against BJP, among the others. That cut into BJP’s votes, helping the Congress.

Political analyst Sandeep Shastri says most of the seats in Bengaluru district tend to change hands between the two national parties during every election. Deshpande’s suggestion, according to him, might also be a course-correction to remedy the perception that the Congress tilts more towards rural populace.

Despite all the attention Bengaluru gets as India’s technology and startup hub, the city is infamous for low voter turnouts in every election for more than three decades. In the last Assembly elections, for instance, while the rest of Karnataka saw a voter turnout of over 70%, Bengaluru’s was 58%. “Now parties could believe they don’t need to waste their energy on a city because people anyway don’t vote. That’s one reason issues remain neglected to a certain extent. At the end of the day, in the last three elections, candidates won not because of the party label but because of their own individual presence in their constituency,” says Shastri.



Problems & Promises
Citizen groups are doing their bit to combat voter apathy by launching awareness campaigns and helping with voter enrolment. Bengaluru Political Action Committee, set up by Biocon’s Shah and Aarin Capital chairman TV Mohandas Pai, among others, is planning to launch an election habba (festival) and put out data about the performance of incumbent MLAs. “We want to let people know we need to change the way elections are being run,” says Revathy Ashok, CEO at B.PAC. The nonprofit also runs courses for potential candidates to train them to take up leadership positions. Saiprasad Rao, a B.PAC member says the idea is to have politically and morally educated representatives. In the upcoming elections, B.PAC, which is apolitical, is hopeful that at least two of the 205 people who have undergone their course would be contesting. Radio host and comedian Danish Sait, who co-wrote and starred in the recently released political satire Humble Politician Nograj, is hopeful that at least some of the 2,50,000 people who saw the film might be persuaded to vote. “Through our film, we haven’t really told people who to vote for. But we’ve told them who not to vote for.”

Bengaluru has a number of civil society groups like B.PAC, some with prominent citizens as members, which are hopeful of making a difference to the way the city is run. One of the first and most well-known was the Bangalore Agenda Task Force, a partnership between government agencies, private sector companies and citizens, which included Infosys chairman Nandan Nilekani among its founding members. The much-publicised agitation against a proposed steel flyover in the city was also spearheaded by a civil society organisation, called Citizens for Bengaluru.

Pani, though, warns that these organisations wield a clout that is disproportionate to their numbers and actual influence. Even Deshpande’s suggestion was possibly aimed at this small but influential section of society which had taken up issues like that of the steel flyover in Bengaluru. “Thousands of garment workers had gone on strike but it is the steel flyover protests that got national attention,” he says.

Apart from the steel flyover protests, voters and opposition parties point out various issues that are yet to be resolved. On Friday, for instance, the city’s highly polluted Bellandur Lake caught fire again, and needed 5,000 army men to bring it under control. Traffic continues to be a challenge, with a report by cab hiring firm Ola pegging the average speed in the city at just 17 km an hour. Proper solid waste management also eludes the city, which generates close to 5,000 tonnes of garbage a day.

Former Infosys director and Aam Aadmi Party member V Balakrishnan, who unsuccessfully contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, says none of the mainstream parties is able to rise to the challenge of governing Bengaluru efficiently. “The city contributes more than two-thirds of Karnataka’s revenues but it gets little in return. We need someone to make it a liveable city… But the problem is the current agenda of both Congress and BJP seems to be proving who is more Hindu. Development is not on their agenda,” says Balakrishnan.

The dates, candidates and party manifestos for the upcoming Assembly elections are yet to be announced. Karnataka is the last big state where the Congress is in power and the BJP, under national president Amit Shah, is determined to wrest it. In the fierce contest for the state, Bengaluru’s 28 seats might see the city punching way above its weight.