Young blood takes on grizzled veterans

BANGALORE: This is not just about the rookie taking on the veteran. The assembly elections to the 28 constituencies in Bangalore have thrown up interesting battles of age as well.
And some of them are battles of equals. With major political parties fielding many newcomers, the candidate lists across Bangalore are a mix of experience and youth, pitching the two against each other in some constituencies.
In Byatarayanapura, 35-year-old Krishna Byre Gowda of Congress takes on 60-year-old C Narayanaswamy of the JD(S).It's a key battle for Byre Gowda, a former MLA and president of the state youth Congress, pitted against the JD(S) working president. Independent candidate Syed Mohammed Rafi, aged 30, is the youngest in the Byatarayanapura fray.
The Bangalore constituencies don't have many candidates aged above 60 years. Interestingly, some of these veterans are in the poll fray against relatively new faces.
For Congress veteran A Krishnappa, the fight is on in K R Pura with first-timer N S Nandish Reddy from the BJP. They are aged 63 and 37, respectively.
Lok Paritran, which has lined up youngsters in most constituencies, has fielded 33-year-old Anuj Kumar Mishra in Jayanagar, where M Suresh (53) of Congress is the oldest among major candidates.
In Hebbal, BSP's G M Yousuff (37) is in the fray against former minister Katta Subramanya Naidu (57) of BJP. In Pulakeshinagar, V Srinivasan (68) of BSP and R Srinivasamurthy (40) of JD(S) close the age bracket. In terms of sheer difference in age, the Rajarajeshwarinagar constituency offers an interesting contest, wherein M Srinivas (66) of BJP has C Vishwanath (33) of BSP among his rivals.
In Bommanahalli, Satish Reddy (37), one of the younger candidates fielded by BJP, has the JD(S)' Muninarayana H N (57) in competition. C V Raman Nagar is another constituency that hosts a battle of the ages. Here, former mayor K C Vijayakumar (65) of Congress is pitted against S Manohar (35) of the JD(S).