Congress candidate from Basavanagudi constituency, U.B. Venkatesh being greeted by supporters after filing his nomination papers for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly polls, in Bengaluru, on April 17, 2023. | Photo Credit: PTI
Believing that Basavanagudi constituency is a BJP stronghold is like living in a ”fool’s paradise” and eventually people who work hard will stand strong, says U.B. Venkatesh, Congress candidate from the seat in an interview with The Hindu.
Excerpts:
What made you choose Basavanagudi constituency, a stronghold of BJP in recent years?
I’ve been deputed by the Congress to look after the poor and needy in Basavanagudi. I am the first person to get the government relief fund as a Congressman in a BJP constituency. Around 78 people died of Covid here. I visited all the affected families, took them to Vidhana Soudha and got them relief funds from the government. I’ve distributed 23,500 Covid relief kits in about 96 locations and conducted vaccination programmes. My party supported me to stay focused on the Basavanagudi constituency. You said [this seat is] “stronghold of the BJP” — it’s all a fool’s paradise, nothing is strong. BJP stands for promises and I stand for the people and development of the constituency.
What are the challenges you are expecting in this constituency?
I am not expecting any particular challenge here. People know me and I know them. I have been working hard in this constituency. I have the blessings of people here and you will see the results on May 13. People are looking for a change.
Some 22,000 families were hit by scams involving various cooperative societies including Sri Guru Raghavendra Sahakara Bank Niyamita, Sri Vashista Credit Souharda Sahakari Ltd (SVCSSL) and Kanva Souharda Co-op Ltd, etc. Are affected people happy with the way this issue was handled?
Basavanagudi was earlier famous for Doddabasavanna, Dodda Ganapathi, Kumaraswamy Temple etc. Nowadays, it has become famous for bank scams. As an MLC, I have been fighting this issue in the House. Whenever we ask the minister responsible for cooperative societies, he says ₹ 1,000 crore have been seized. I wonder why then it has not been given to the investors and compensated for their losses. The CID too said the government seized ₹1,000 crore, but all the documents which were seized were bogus documents, not proper loan documents.
I have been pushing for a CBI investigation and the co-operative minister even conducted a press conference saying a CBI investigation would be held. But nothing has happened yet. Thousands of families lost their hard-earned savings, sadly some depositors even died without getting proper medical care due to lack of funds.
What difference are you promising to the voters here?
I don’t want to promise anything. Offering promises is the job of BJP. We are here to do the job, mostly in areas of school and higher education, traffic management and creating comfortable public infrastructure for senior citizens in the constituency. Senior citizens account for 30% to 40% of the constituency’s population. We had organised a samvada for senior citizens and they raised various issues. We have a plan to build a recreational club for senior citizens so they can spend quality time with their age group, read, play and engage in entertainment.
