Cong. candidate wins Council poll

By A.Jayaram

BANGALORE, AUG. 26. Support to the ruling party in the State, if not loyalty, has scored over charisma or record of service in the byelection to the Legislative Council from the Bangalore City District Local Authorities' Constituency, the result of which was announced here this afternoon.

The Congress candidate, Mr. K.B.Munivenkata Reddy, has emerged an easy victor over the better known Mr. C.Narayanaswamy of the Janata Dal (Secular) and Mr. Gurummurthy Reddy of the BJP in the election held on Friday.

The byelection had been caused by the death of C.Narayana Reddy of the Congress. The elected candidate's term will last till 2004.

The votes of the members of the 112 gram panchayats in the constituency have obviously played a decisive role in the election. The panchayat members numbered 1,676 in the 2,194- strong electorate. Though elected on non-party basis,a majority of the gram panchayat members have identified themselves with the ruling party as has been the tradition all over the State.

Of the three candidates in the fray, Mr.Narayana- swamy was the best known. He was the first president of the Bangalore Rural Zilla Parishad during 1985-90 and had achieved much popularity. He was later a Janata Dal member of the Lok Sabha from the Bangalore North constituency during 1996-98. He is the Secretary- General of the State JD (S). In view of his reputation for being non-controversial, the Janata Dal (United) had supported his candidature.

The presence of the BJP candidate divided the anti- Congress votes. The BJP had its own reasons for fielding a candidate. Mr.Gurumurthy Reddy was the closest rival to the late Narayana Reddy in the 1998 election. Perhaps the stand taken by the JD(S) to keep away from the BJP at all costs and from the Congress to the extent possible, stood in the way of the party persuading the BJP to withdraw its candidate.

The victorious Congress candidate, Mr. Munivenkata Reddy, who hails from Konena Agrahara, which is now part of the City (Airport Road area), was better known as a university-level politician as was the case with the late Narayana Reddy. A graduate in law, Mr.Reddy is in his early sixties. He was earlier with the Congress (Organisation) and was a follower of the late Veerendra Patil.

He was a member of the Senate, Syndicate, and Academic Council of Bangalore University. He is also involved in social work.

With the retention of the seat, the strength of the Congress in the Upper House rises to 31. It includes the five MLCs nominated last month,four of whom were chosen for their loyalty to the Congress.

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