In the last five years no major development works done in the Constituency, say residents.
Road connectivity, heavy traffic at the railway crossing near RV College, garbage and unmaintained lakes are the main problem in the Yeshwanthpur constituency, say residents.
Despite the problems that have been going on since years under the tenure of the present MLA S T Somashekhar, residents of the Constituency and the BJP workers believe he will be re-elected in the area this time due to his experience in politics and popularity.
Krishnappa a resident of Kengeri upanagar, who has been staying in the area since 40 years said that the major problem of the area is road connectivity.
The Kengeri Satellite town has no direct connectivity to the Mysore road due to the railway crossing near RV College. He said that there is always huge rush at the crossing as the gate is mostly closed due to increasing number of trains.
We have complained to the MLA and called for strike but nothing has been done yet. “Commuters have to use another route which is very long to reach the city.”
He said that the MLA has done some works like building a public library in the area and providing water connection to the slums. But there are not many development projects that happened in the area in the last five years. He said that there is still a high possibility of Somashekhar to win as MLA for the fourth time in this area as he has a good rapport with the locals.
However, another resident of the locality, who works in a supermarket said that the JD(S) has a higher possibility of winning this time as they helped poor people during COVID-19 and distributed ration. The BJP on the other hand looted people by increasing the price of cylinders and rice.
Anil Chalagiri, the BJP president from the Yeshwanthpur constituency said that S T Somashekhar has a high possibility of winning from the constituency as there is not much competition from the opposition in the area.
Congress is not canvassing much, they have just placed a dummy candidate Balraj Gowda and JD(S) candidate T N Javariya Gowda do not come out or interact with the people much.
He said that there is a possibility that JD(S) and Congress will tie up to defeat S T Someshakhar. But Somashakhar will come back with a margin of 30,000 to 40,000 votes as he is an experienced politician.
Elaborating on the development plans they have for the constituency if elected to power, he said, “We are mainly focusing on the drinking water supply and supplying Cauvery water to every ward in the constituency and rejuvenate the 100 lakes that come under the Constituency and build a few dialysis centers.”
He said that Yeshwanthpur is a huge constituency and more gram panchayat and locations keep adding to the Constituency. Although it is a scattered constituency S T Somahekhar has been a part of it since 20 years, he knows how to handle it.
Krishnappa said that in terms of work done for the area, the same old projects are going on but Somashekhar has greater probability of winning because he socialise with people of the area, speaks to them not only during elections but otherwise also. “This increased his likeability among the people, over the opposition candidates.”
The president said that not much work has been done under the MLAs last term, due to the pandemic. He said that most of the money was spent in providing resources for COVID-19 and Somashekhar has also spent money from his pocket to help the economically weaker sections with COVID-19 treatment.
This time he added, “There are several development projects lined up that we are going to take up in the area.”
