Mysuru: Congress leader and Minister H C Mahadevappa has been a winning racehorse for the Congress party in the Karnataka Assembly elections.
Mahadevappa, who for the first time contested assembly election from T Narasipur reserved constituency in 1989 representing Janata Dal (JD) unsuccessfully is contesting for the seventh consecutive assembly election. In the last six assembly elections, he emerged as victorious in 1994, 2004, 2008 and 2013.
A close associate of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Mahadevappa has been assigned the responsibility of taking care of the poll related activities in Mysuru and Chamarajanagar districts by the CM. He also has the important job of supervising the election campaign of Yathindra at Varuna segment.
In an exclusive interview to Newskarnataka, he said, “Karnataka is not Gujarat. People here are more intelligent and they know various developmental works undertaken in last five years by the Siddaramaiah government. Let any number of BJP leaders canvass here. They can’t change the mindset of the people of Karnataka. The work we have done in the past five years speaks about our performance.”
Here is the full text of the interview:
Q: How is the party’s election campaign going on in the state?
The election campaign is taking an important turn as we head for polling. People are responding to the party’s call to vote for us because of our good performance in the past five years. The government is free from scams and has fulfilled almost all promises made in the last election.
Q: Is there any anti-incumbency factor at play in the state?
There is no anti-incumbency factor as we gave a stable government and focused on inclusive growth. There are people spreading canards to mislead the voters, but they won’t succeed.
Q: The BJP has upped its campaigning as PM Narendra Modi is holding 21 rallies across the state and it has also sent senior union ministers for campaigning. What is your take on it?
Any number of leaders can come and campaign in Karnataka. They are cheating crores of people by not fulfilling even a single promise made during the Lok Sabha elections in 2014. The BJP-led NDA government didn’t help Karnataka during difficult times. Narendra Modi, the union ministers and the BJP chief Amith Shah cannot affect Congress’ prospects.
Q: What do you make of Modi’s words of praise for former prime minister H D Devegowda?
It is a clear indication that BJP has joined hands with the JD(S) for taking on the Congress. They want to threaten secular forces. JD(S) is playing a dirty game by joining hands with fascists.
Q: Coming to your segment of T Narsipur, why do you think people should re-elect you?
In the last five years, I have taken up various developmental works in the constituency, including providing the much needed drinking water to almost all villages, construction of flyovers, bridges, construction of colleges, hospitals, ITI, exclusive college for women, construction of bus stand, pilgrimage centres, modernisation of all canals, revival of irrigation, lift irrigation to more than thousands of acres, construction of toilets, making almost all villages free from open defecation, construction of roads in villages and their outskirts, and reconstruction of dams. Almost all developmental works are completed across the constituency which is making it difficult for my opponents to raise their voice.
Q: If re-elected what are your plans for your constituency?
Apart from improving and completing the existing works, my focus will also be on providing skill training for youth and creating more job opportunities.
Q: Last assembly election you won with a narrow margin of 323 votes against JD(S). Why?
The margin of victory in the last assembly election even surprised me but this time it will be different because I have initiated various developmental works in the constituency. In the last five years, the government spent more than Rs 1000 Crore for various developmental works. People in the constituency are happy with my work and I am positive that I will win by a good margin this time.
