Governance

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,…

At a broad level, legislative assemblies and legislative councils together form the legislative body at the state level. As a representational body, it has the mandate to make laws, hold the state executive accountable and sanction public expenditure, just as the Parliament at the central level. As opposed to the Parliament of India, some states comprise of the lower house only (called the legislative assembly whose members are directly elected by the people), while few others also have the upper house (called the legislative council whose members are elected through a select electorate comprising of members of municipalities, teachers, MLAs…

Krishna Byre Gowda, a second generation politician, was first elected to the Assembly in 2003 and was one of the youngest members at 30. He was elected from Vemagal, which fell vacant after the death of his father Byre Gowda, who was a five time MLA from constituency. He joined the Congress in 2004 and won the constituency again. In 2007 he was elected the President of the Karnataka Youth Congress Committee. In 2008, he moved constituencies and contested from Bytarayanpura in Bangalore. He contested the Parliamentary elections from Bangalore South in 2009 at the behest of Rahul Gandhi, but…

Ronur Venkateshappa Devraj is a three-time MLA currently representing the Chickpet constituency. He was previously elected twice from the Chamrajpet constituency, before delimitation of constituencies that changed the borders. His is a rags-to-riches story. Devraj’s father was a vegetable merchant at the city market and Devraj was the fourth son. He started his political career with the Youth Congress in 1970s was the Block Congress Committee Secretary, Chamarajpet. He entered the Assembly in 1989 from Chamrajpet and won the constituency twice consecutively. His close proximity to former Chief Minister S M Krishna was proven when he withdrew his nomination from…

M Krishnappa, or Layout Krishnappa as he is popularly called, is among the richest MLAs in the state given his background in real estate. The Congress leader was an MLC between 2000 to 2006. He even contested the MP elections from Bangalore South. He was the Minister for Housing in the Siddaramaiah cabinet and was the Minister in-charge for Mandya in 2016. The former Minister has been in the news with accusations of land grabbing around the Byrasandra lake being made against him. Krishnappa is among the Congress leaders who has a website for himself, though it is fairly dated…

Dinesh Gundu Rao, a second generation politician is a four-time MLA from Gandhinagar. He is an engineer by qualification but identifies himself as social worker and politician. His father R Gundu Rao was the Chief Minister of Karnataka from 1980 to 1983. Dinesh started his political career with the Youth Congress and steadily rose through the ranks. He is currently the Working President of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee. He held an independent charge for Consumer Affairs and also was Minister for Food and Civil Supplies in Siddaramaiah Cabinet. His urban and cosmopolitan image combined with his oratory skills has…

The first term MLA from Hebbal, Jagadish Kumar, replaced his political mentor Katta Subramanya Naidu for the Hebbal constituency, after Naidu’s legal issues saw him imprisoned. Jagadish Kumar died in November of 2015, following a heart attack when he was 58. He was rushed to a private hospital after he complained of uneasiness in his chest during the Assembly session, but collapsed while medical tests were being done. Jagadish who was an active member of the Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad was a qualified engineer and began his political career in 1993. He was the Bangalore City General Secretary in the…

The six-term MLA, Ramalinga Reddy was first elected from Jayanagar for four times. Then in 2008 when the cosntituency boundaries changed due to delimitation, he shifted to BTM layout which he currently represents for the second time. Reddy was the Home Minister in the Siddaramaiah cabinet, a berth he was given after the resignation of G Parameshwar. Before that he handled the Ministry of Transport. He started his political career as a municipal corporator in 1983. His first stint as a minister started in the Veerappa Moily Cabinet as Minister for Finance and Heavy and Medium Industries. He has held…

Politics did not happen to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Karnataka Convener Prithvi Reddy intentionally. He was a part of Corruption Saku campaign in 2010 (which later merged with India Against Corruption) with no aspirations other than to reduce corruption. He co-founded Smart Vote, a movement to encourage voter registration and participation in issue-based politics. He runs his father’s school of 450 students in Addagal village, Kolar District. Reddy then co-founded Swabal, an initiative to provide practical skills to high school dropouts with guaranteed employment.   He became AAP’s national executive member in 2013. Now he is contesting from Sarvagna Nagar,…

India’s road safety crisis is no secret anymore. The numbers are so staggering that they could cause a few accidents from shock, if you just read them! At least 4,80,652 accidents led to 1,50,785 deaths in 2016, which means 413 people died everyday in 1,317 road accidents. There were at least 17 deaths in 55 accidents every hour. However, the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act was passed by the Lok Sabha last year, but never got the nod from the Rajya Sabha, which got adjourned indefinitely this year. Meanwhile, a recent report shows that most accidents in India involve “newest vehicles”!…