INTERVIEWS

Jayanagar MLA BN Vijayakumar died of a cardiac arrest, on May 3, 2018, right in the middle of his campaigning. What did Vijayakumar leave behind? What was he trying to do, and what problems did he have? What was his opinion on his constituency's concerns like waste composting or cycle lanes? We had interviewed Vijayakumar a week earlier, to understand his vision for the constituency. This was a long chat and it highlights his legacy too, perhaps setting the direction for whoever takes his baton, and for those who want to pick up the fights he was fighting and carry them…

A Children-centric Chennai school Unkempt buildings, broken toilets, steep absenteeism and disinterested students? Fits your idea of a government or Corporation school? Think again. Perceptions and ideas develop over time and, once hardened, it is rather difficult to demolish them. While there’s no denying the fact that such schools continue to exist, the opposite holds true as well. And, one such example is the Chennai High School in Kottur. With a renewed focus on obliterating absenteeism and moulding well rounded individuals, the team of teachers led by an inspiring and resourceful Head Mistress is making heads turn. Tackling absenteeism in…

Volunteers from a citizen activist group, Million Voter Rising interviewed candidates contesting in the Karnataka Assembly elections from Mahadevapura constituency. Below is the transcript of the interview with Swaraj Party candidate Ramesh Chander: https://youtu.be/T8fzb0wNgkg Video courtesy: Sunil Gupta, Whitefield Rising. Your profile mentions that you are a humble person.  How will your humility help you in politics? People expect aggressive people to join politics.  Will you be successful with humility? With my friends and family, I am very humble.  I am also the head of the family after my father passed away.  My family has done very well wherever they…

Volunteers from a citizen activist group, Million Voter Rising interviewed candidates contesting in the Karnataka Assembly elections from Mahadevapura constituency. Below is the transcript of the interview with Indian National Congress candidate A C Srinivas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7068ItIxIw Video courtesy: Sunil Gupta, Whitefield Rising. Can you tell us a little about you and your family? I am the son of a school headmaster.  I was born in Chokkanahalli village of Bangalore.  I have studied B.Com. While serving in a Government job, based on encouragement from my village people to take up service of the society, I got elected as a member of…

Volunteers from Million Voter Rising, the citizen group from Mahadevapura, interviewed candidates contesting in the Karnataka Assembly elections from Mahadevapura constituency. This is the transcript of the interview with the incumbent MLA from Bharatiya Janata Party, Aravinda Limbavali. https://youtu.be/CixmRAQvjcI Mahadevapura MLA Aravinda Limbavali’s proposed manifesto for the constituency has 5 focus issues: traffic, environment, infrastructure, law and order, and social empowerment Does Mahadevpura have any problems and what are they according to you? First of all, I want to thank organisations such as Whitefield Rising that are there in my constituency. They regularly come to me, we discuss various issues. Not…

Incumbent MLA and INC candidate for Pulakeshinagar constituency, Akhanda Srinivas Murthy, won by a margin of nearly 50% last time. Despite shifting loyalties and getting inducted into the party only in March, Murthy is confident of repeating the same performance. He was in the eye of the storm for cross-voting with seven other former JD(S) leaders in favor of INC leader KC Ramamurthy. Amidst the hustle and bustle of campaigning, he sat down with Citizen Matters for a chat at his home. DJ Halli area was in news for deaths of children due to malnutrition. What steps have been taken…

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is contesting in a few seats in Bengaluru, in which K R Puram is one. Lingaraj Urs has been campaigning hard to gain ground to take on the incumbent Basavaraj Byrathi. Here are the excerpts of an interview with him. You are a first time candidate in the Assembly elections and the people of K R Puram don't know much about you. Tell us a bit about your experience in public service and administration. I think I'll go back a little in time, to the roots of my career. I spent 30 years in IT and…

BTM Layout has a new candidate this year, who is out to make a dent in the vote share of major parties. Two budding journalists, Shravya Sharath and Gauri Mullerpatten, spoke to him on behalf of Citizen Matters, to understand his pitch and views on various issues. Excerpts: You are a first time candidate in the Assembly elections. People of BTM don’t really know much about you. So could you give us a brief about your background? Absolutely! It’s not that people of BTM don’t know me. I’ve been here all my life - I live this area. I’ve been…

Amid a busy day meant for campaigning, Sureshkumar took time to meet us during a break. He is one of the MLAs in Bengaluru who are in touch with people and socially active. Being a senior member of the Opposition, he has been actively raising issues related to Bengaluru and the State in the Assembly, seeking solutions from the Government. He spoke about his work, party's policies and more in the interview. Edited excerpts: What have you been able to achieve as an MLA in the last five years? As a true representative of the people from Rajajinagar, I have…

Krishna Byre Gowda was the Agriculture Minister in the last Assembly. He is contesting elections again. In an interview, he talks about his vision, mission, work and policies. The interview: When you moved constituencies in 2008 to Byatarayanapura, it was newly added to the Great Bengaluru area. What were the challenges that you saw that needed immediate attention? As you said it was a newly added area to Bengaluru. All the amenities that people take for granted in a city like Bengaluru like underground drains, Cauvery water, roads, parks did not exist there. And when the area was being added,…