Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha seat: Congress has new aspirant, Prakash Raj is confident

Bengaluru, Jan 23: Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha constituency, currently held by BJP, likely to witness a new face from the Congress party in the upcoming general elections.

In two Lok Sabha elections held in this constituency created after delimitation in 2008, Congress party did not filed the same candidate. In 2009, former DGP Karnataka Police, HT Sangliana contested on Congress ticket and Rizwan Arshad in 2014. However, in the both the elections BJP's PC Mohan defeated Congress candidates.

According to sources, former MLC Saleem Ahmed is keen to contest from Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha seat in 2019. In a bid to to send signals to the party, Saleem Ahmed hosted get-together for party workers, colleagues on January 13 at Palace ground in Bengaluru.

Saleem Ahmed had contested from Haveri Lok Sabha seat (North Karnataka) in 2009 and 2014, but lost against Shivkumar Udasi. In 2019, he wants to make a comeback in Bengaluru Central. He was former Director General Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India 2012-2014 and was the Member Legislative council during 1996-2002 and 2002-2008.

In the party he held the position as President, All India National Students' Union of India (NSUI) 1993-1997, General Secretary Indian Youth Congress 1997-1998, President Karnataka State - NSUI 1987-1993, Vice President, Karnataka State - NSUI 1983-1987 and Elected Student Union Leader Seshadripuram College, Bangalore 1982-1986.

Meanwhile, tenowned actor and activist Prakash Raj has begun campaigning Prakash Raj will contest independently from Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha constituency. Prakash Raj told reportes, "It is very important to seek and understand the issues at the grassroots level. Prakash Raj will be contesting as an Independent candidate. In the run-up to the 2018 State Assembly elections in Karnataka, the actor made critical statements about the BJP including against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah.

The actor flagged off eight auto-rickshaws driven by women near Mahatma Gandhi statue on M.G. Road in which he would tour each of the eight Assembly segments in the Lok Sabha constituency. He will be talking to voters, and holding impromptu jana sabhas over the next 10 days. He plans to use the inputs from voters to draft his manifesto.

The Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha constituency is dominated by minority voters, and is a challenge for candidates, with having to get the support of both linguistic and religious minorities. The constituency has around 5.5 lakh Tamil People, 4.5 lakh Muslims and about 2 lakh Christians. There is also a significant number of Marwaris and Jains, especially around Chickpet and Gandhinagar suburbs. The Tamil population is concentrated around the suburbs of Shivajinagar, Ulsoor, Gandhinagar, Seshadripuram and are a deciding factor for the winning candidate. Further, the demography of the constituency ranges from rich to middle class to slums.

There are eight Assembly constituencies of the Bangalore Central Parliamentary constituency, out of which C.V. Raman Nagar and Mahadevapura are reserved for candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes. With some of the biggest multinational companies of the world which provide employment to lakhs of people, the economy in this region is reliant on a rich and flourishing IT Sector.