Bangalore South Lok Sabha: BJP’s Tejasvi Surya and Congress’s Sowmya Reddy in Fray

Bengaluru: The Congress party has fielded Sowmya Reddy in battle against BJP youth wing chief Tejasvi Surya on the Bangalore South seat for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, in what has been touted as the “revenge election.”

The BJP candidate from Bangalore South seat, one of the biggest constituencies in Karnataka, will be seeking re-election from the prestigious seat amid spirited challenge from Sowmya Reddy, daughter of Minister Ramalinga Reddy. 

The 41-year-old Congress leader is former MLA from Jayanagar seat as she lost the state Assembly election last year, surprisingly by a mere 16 votes. 

The Bangalore South constituency is spread across eight assembly constituencies and has been a BJP stronghold since 1991. During the last year state polls, BJP won five, while Congress got three of them. 

Notably, the voters of Bangalore South have not given chance to Congress in Lok Sabha elections since 1977, except in 1989 when former Chief Minister late R Gundu Rao emerged victorious.  

This time, eyeing to turn the tide in favour, Congress has put all its might behind its candidate with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar leading intensive campaigning to uproot the BJP.

Congress Banking on 5 Guarantess

The five guarantess which gave massive success to the Congress in the last assembly polls have become the magic spell in the Lok Sabha elections too. 

Being Transport Minister's daughter, Sowmya was seen highlighting the benefits of ‘Shakti’ guarantee which enabled free bus ride for women across the state. 

"Do you travel in buses? Which places have you visited in the recent past? Do you pay or travel for free?" Sowmya asked women voters during a recent roadshow.

During campaign, Sowmya also made it a point to make people aware about the four other guarantees 'Gruha Lakshmi', 'Gruha Jyoti', 'Yuva Nidhi' and 'Anna Bhagya'. 

On the other hand, the BJP candidate is banking heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity in his home turf, like many other BJP candidates. 

"Ten years ago, when you look at the state of our economy, the white paper very clearly mentions in detail the state of the country's economy. We were counted among the most fragile economies in the world. Today, we are one of the top five economies. This journey from fragile five to top five captures how our institutions were strengthened," Surya said.

The 33-year-old Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha president had been conducting talks by right wing intellectuals, especially those affiliated with RSS and 'Sangh Parivar' in his constituency.