Parties turn to corporators to build bottom-up support

BENGALURU: After rumblings over selection of candidates and sharing of constituencies dominating the proceedings in the run-up to the filing of nominations for the three Lok Sabha constituencies in Bengaluru city, strategists and campaign managers of the Congress-JD(S) alliance and the BJP have turned their attention towards corporators to woo voters.

While saying the role of corporators cannot be dismissed in general elections, a Congress leader said: “The poll arithmetic in Bengaluru was being done on the basis of MLAs, but now we are roping in corporators to stay ahead.”

Concurring on the issue, BJP leaders added: “Our strategy is also same. We have told corporators to consolidate and galvanize vote banks in their respective localities.”

Bengaluru North Lok Sabha constituency has 58 corporators, Bengaluru South 60 and Bengaluru Central 56. Independent corporators have identified themselves with the Congress-JD(S) alliance, which is the ruling party in the

Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike

. While BJP corporators (43) are more in Bengaluru South constituency, they are outnumbered by those from the Congress-JD(S) combine in Bengaluru North and Bengaluru Central.

Bengaluru has been represented by BJP MPs, but the poll dynamics might change with the coming together of Congress and JD(S) corporators in the grassroots. In Bengaluru North, sitting BJP MP DV Sadananda Gowda faces a formidable challenge as there are 23 BJP corporators against 35 corporators from Congress-JDS (including an independent). Similarly, in Bengaluru Central constituency, the number of Congress-JDS (including independents) is 30 as against BJP’s 26 corporators.

Congress corporator RS Satyanarayan (Dattatreya Temple) in Bengaluru Central constituency said: “Corporators are directly in touch with people in the ward and we are given the mandate to ensure that votes are cast in favour of our candidate. There is a lot at stake for us too; if we do not work actively we might not get the party ticket to contest BBMP polls or to scale to higher posts in the party.” Domlur ward corporator CR Lakshminarayan (Independent) is also working towards the same goal: Securing a huge margin for coalition candidate Rizwan Arshad. “What we do now will help us during the BBMP polls,” he added.

In Bengaluru South, Congress candidate BK Hariprasad has to bank heavily on three MLAs and 17 corporators from Congress-JD(S) to take over the BJP bastion. BJP honchos were rattled when they realized that only two out of the five party MLAs had accompanied party candidate Tejasvi Surya when he filed his nomination from Bengaluru South.

In terms of strategy, former deputy mayor (BJP) S Harish said they have been told to speak about Modi’s achievements and garner more votes for the party candidate.