Countdown to counting: Bangaloreans hope for strong leaders

Bangalore, May 15 : As the countdown begins for the verdict of the 15th Lok Sabha elections, voters in India’s IT hub are hoping they will get strong leaders who can help the city overcome the problems of economic slowdown and lack of civic amenities.

“Bangalore is facing the heat of the economic slowdown. Only strong leaders will be able to tackle the issue. Civic amenities like water and electricity supply are also a major concern,” septuagenarian Amar Kumar, a retired government employee and resident of J.P. Nagar, told IANS.

Dinanath Mohan, a senior executive with an IT firm, said Bangalore has suffered heavily due to the global recession with lot of IT and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies laying off employees.

“There is no data available on the number of IT and BPO professionals who have lost jobs in recent times. But it is a fact that the impact of recession has been huge. Under such circumstances, we want a strong leadership to tackle the matter seriously and do the needful to avoid huge losses for the industry,” said Mohan.

“Civic amenities and infrastructure, mostly roads, are also in shambles,” he added.

Around 600,000 people work in the IT and ITES (IT enabled services) industries in Bangalore.

Of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka, three are in the capital - Bangalore Central, Bangalore South and Bangalore North.

Bangalore Central saw a triangular battle between Congress leader and former cop H.T. Sangliana, Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) P.C. Mohan and B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan of the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S).

Along with BJP’s H.N. Anantha Kumar, four time winner of the South Bangalore constituency, the other prominent names vying for the prestigious constituency are Krishna Byre Gowda of the Congress, low-cost airline pioneer captain G.R.

Gopinath (independent) and educationist turned politician K.E. Radhakrishna of the JD-S.

Bangalore North saw D.B. Chandre Gowda of the BJP locking horns with Congress veteran C.K. Jaffer Sharief and R. Surendra Babu of the JD-S.

Asked which party do they think will get maximum seats, most voters said they were not bothered about the victory of any party but would like to see strong and upright leaders get elected.

“If a politician is strong enough, he will definitely fulfil all his duties and responsibilities. It hardly matters whether he is from the Congress, BJP or JD-S. We are not bothered about what political affiliations the winners have. We want them to work for overall progress of the city,” said bank employee Prabin Mehta, who has been living here for the past 15 years.

Although Bangaloreans are wishing that they get able leaders, they fared poorly when it came to voting.

On April 23, when Bangalore voted for three of its constituencies, only 46.66 percent of the electorate exercised their franchise.

“Bangaloreans want good governance and leaders. There is nothing wrong with their wishes. But when it came to voting, they shied away from their responsibility. Due to the lackadaisical attitude of the people, the city might end up choosing the wrong leaders,” observed Sandeep Shastri, senior political analyst.

Counting of the votes will be held Saturday.

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Indian youth rock to music and promise to vote

Band: Thermal and a Quarter

Bangalore, Mar 31 : They came in droves and jived to popular rock beats that had a blunt message - "Shut up and vote". Swayed by the power of music, they promised to do so in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

In terms of numbers, the boisterous young crowds that thronged rock music shows in India's tech hub and four metros were small - around 10,000 in each place.

But the Bangalore-based rock band Thermal and a Quarter (TAAQ), which belted a lyric composed by it for the 'Shut Up and Vote' campaign, is happy with the result. So are the show organisers.

"The 'Shut Up and Vote' tour was fabulous right through the five cities. Thank you for attending the finale at Bangalore, and thank you for staying and cheering through every song, and singing along to every last word of every chorus. We love you. But now, please go and vote," the band said in its blog 'TAAQin', after ending its whirlwind campaign on Saturday.

"Through voting and electing quality leaders, the youth can strengthen the roots of Indian democracy. So put that index finger to good use - shut up and vote!," the blog urged, carrying forward the campaign to enthuse the apathetic Indian youth to participate in the world's biggest battle of the ballots.

The band was roped in to stir the urban youth to vote by the Tata Tea-sponsored 'Jaago Re' (Wake up)! One Billion Votes' campaign and Bangalore-based NGO Janaagraha.

The concerts started at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) campus in Chennai on March 20. The band then travelled to Kolkata's Presidency College on March 23, Pragati Maidan in New Delhi on March 25, D.Y. Patel College, Mumbai on March 27 and ended at St Jospeh's College of Commerce, Bangalore on March 28.

The band composed a special song as a part of the campaign and the lyrics were - "Shut up and Vote/Shut up and Vote/You've got the dope, you're the antidote/Shut up and Vote/Shut up and Vote/You're so smart but you're running out of hope/It's all a mess, I must confess/The system seems a joke/Should you make the steal, reinvent the wheel/Or simply go for broke?"

The words were penned by TAAQ's three members - vocalist/guitar player Bruce Lee Mani, drummer Rajeev Rajagopal and vocalist/bass player Rzhude. The band was started in 1996.

The song has become quite a rage among youngsters and the video of the song is being circulated on the Internet.

"We got amazing response from the youth in all the cities. The rock concerts were part of our campaign to make the youth vote. We asked them to vote instead of lamenting about various flaws in the system, by choosing the right candidate," Jasmine Shah, Campaign Coordinator, Jaago Re! One Billion Votes, said.

"We're happy that music, always a popular form of expression among youths, helped us reach so many people," added Shah.

In between the rock shows in the five cities, announcements were made by Jaago Re volunteers on the need to vote.

"Through announcements we told the audience about the importance of voting and voting for the right candidate," said Vandana Krishnan of Janaagraha, set up in 2001.

Vandana said the campaign to motivate the youth would continue and not end with the rock concerts. Members of the NGO plan to visit college campuses in various cities to reach out to young voters.

"We're also toying with several other ideas to make the campaign more attractive as the elections are very near," said Vandana.

"Voter registration in several places has almost come to an end. So encouraging people to register themselves is meaningless. Now we target that all the registered voters must vote."

The Jaago Re campaign was launched six months ago. As a part of the campaign, a dedicated website www.jaagore.com was started, where would-be voters could register online and get directions for the registration process.

Around 545,000 youth across the country have registered with the site.

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Rock show to highlight the importance of Voting in Bangalore

Band members of Thermal and a Quarter at a press conference in Bangalore on Tuesday

BANGALORE, Mar 18 : A special campaign to empower the youth of this nation has begun its journey, with its five-city rock show highlighting the importance of voting.

Janagraha and Tata Tea announced the ‘Shut Up and Vote Tour’ campaign across the nation, as a part of their ongoing nationwide rock concert by a Indian Rock Band- Thermal and a Quarter at Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai during the last week of March.

A special music video ‘Shut up and vote’ has also been developed by the Bangalore-based rock band, which aims at highlighting the importance of participation of youth in the electoral process in a language that youth understand and associate -- with music.

Speaking to the media, Jasmine Shah, campaign coordinator, Jaago Re! One Billion Votes said, “This movement is aimed at creating social awakening.

The initiative was to awaken the youth to get the entire nation to vote while empowering people to take a step forward. Since music has always moved the youth, we thought this is a better way to get associated with this cause.This campaign will bring changes breaking this attitude that the youth has about politics.” “A change in the quality of governance can happen only with active participation through voting and electing quality leaders and by strengthening the roots of democracy,” said Shah.

Bruce Lee Mani, the lead vocalist and guitarist for Thermal and a Quarter said, “We are truly honoured to be a part of this campaign. As responsible citizens of this country, it is necessary to awaken the generation of today to actively participate in voting to elect the right leader. We aim to motivate the youth to join this endeavour through our efforts.”

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HT Sangliana To Contest Elections From Bangalore Central?

Congress May Ask Jaffer Sharief To Contest From Bangalore North

Bangalore, Mar 8 : Too many Congress seniors from Karnataka clamoring for tickets resulted in a deadlocked meeting of the screening committee in New Delhi on Saturday. The panel, which was to shortlist names, meets again on March 12.

With the Congress planning to pull out all stops to reach the two-digit tally, the panel reportedly could not arrive at any decision. It has to vet the list sent by the state election committee before forwarding it to the central panel.

“Ultimately, it appears all seniors will be asked to contest,’’ a Congress leader said. Earlier in the day, there was speculation that former BJP MP H T Sangliana’s name, who joined the party recently, had been cleared for Bangalore Central constituency and party veteran C K Jaffer Sharief ’s for Bangalore North.

No decision has been taken yet, though the buzz was that AICC chief Sonia Gandhi had reportedly told a delegation that Sangliana would be fielded. If the Congress fields Sharief from Bangalore Central, the JD(S) has decided not to field its nominee.

A surprise entry is said to be of former CM M Veerappa Moily, who may be asked to contest from Chikballapur, though he is a contender for the Dakshina Kannada seat.

It is learnt Margaret Alva is keen on the Uttara Kannada seat, while the sole name sent for the constituency is of KPCC president R V Deshpande’s son Prashant.

Two former MPs, Manjunath Kunnur and Shivanna, who defied their erstwhile party whips during the trust vote on the nuclear deal will be accommodated in their constituencies, Dharwad and Chamarajanagar, respectively. Meanwhile, a delegation led by M P Prakash and Allum Veerabhadrappa met Sonia on Friday seeking 6-8 seats for the Lingayats.

According to them, the Hyderabad-Karnatak and Mumbai-Karnatak regions are hemmed in by reserved constituencies with the number of general seats coming down, where Lingayats are in large numbers.

On representation to women, outgoing MP Tejeswini Gowda’s spat with KPCC working president D K Shiva Kumar, who is pushing for his brother D K Suresh’s candidature, has put the high command in a fix.
In Belgaum, the lone woman candidate Laxmi Hebbalkar is being supported by Lingayat leaders, but those opposed to Kumar are said to be scuttling it.

The panel held discussions with former DyCM Siddaramaiah, who was asked to rush to New Delhi at the last minute.

READ MORE - HT Sangliana To Contest Elections From Bangalore Central?