20 June,2011 06:13 AM IST | | Yacoob Mohammed
While the speculation over who will win the ward seat continues, political heavyweights are expected to campaign for their respective candidates
The political battle over Banashankari Temple ward will see a host of heavyweights like Home Minister R Ashok, JD(S) MLA Zameer Ahmed Khan and Congress MLA Ramalinga Reddy campaigning for their party candidates through the lanes of Yarabnagar, Sarbandepalaya, Hari Colony Umarbagh and other slums of the ward.
Top priority: A view of the Banashankari Temple area. Pic/Ramesh Hs
Dissidence in JD(S) and Congress may give BJP, which is enjoying power both in the state and the city corporation, an edge. Congress has to manage a challenge in the form of Sheik Aslam, who is an independent and also was an aspirant from the congress. He decided to go in separately however, since the party denied him a ticket following a case pending against him in the Kumaraswamy Layout police station.
Furthermore, the JD(S) has to fight JDU candidate Shaik Wajid, who split with the JD(S) following a ticket being allotted to Mohammed Akbar. The only candidate enjoying support from the party, both internally and externally, is BJP candidate A H Basavraj, a contractor and social worker who won last time from Ganeshmandir, which had all the areas of Banashankari before delimitation.
The delimitation saw Mohammed Ali as corporator in 2010. But, his brother Mohammed Akbar, who is a air conditioner technician was forced into the fray following his murder. The candidate on the last rung is Congress's Ansar Pasha, who is a wholesale marine fish trader.
Nawaz Khan, an aged resident of this ward, said, "We have seen this ward without any development even when the elected representatives were around. I can only hope that whoever is elected this time does something good." Corroborating on the same, Hari colony slum resident Lakshmamma said, "We will snub the candidates if they come to our doorstep. First let them work and then come seeking votes."
