A simple man trying to develop his constituency so that citizens can live a better life.
That’s how two-time Pulakeshinagar MLA Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy describes himself on his Facebook page.
The Pulikeshinagar constituency, reserved for SC, was formed after the 2008 delimitation. Congress’ B Prasanna Kumar won in 2008. But Murthy, who was then with the JD(S), sprang a surprise when he defeated Kumar in 2013. In 2018, Murthy jumped ship to the Congress and won against Kumar who contested as the JD(S) candidate.
The constituency has a sizable number of Muslim and Christian votes, because of which it is seen as the Congress’ stronghold. When Murthy was looking to expand his base among the minorities, he relied on Zameer Ahmed Khan to garner Muslim votes. In fact, Murthy and Khan together joined the Congress ahead of the 2018 Assembly elections along with five others from the JD(S).
“The rioting could involve the handiwork of some people in our party who do not like Murthy,” a top Congress leader told DH. “The fact that even Khan couldn’t bring the situation under control shows that there could be some mischief,” the leader added. Khan could not be reached for comment.
Politically, the Congress is viewing the Tuesday night incident as another wake-up call, especially ahead of the BBMP elections.
“There’s the worry that we might be losing the Muslim support base,” the leader said, “because the SPDI is consistently trying to consolidate Muslims in its favour.” In fact, Muzammil Pasha, a prime accused in the riots, belongs to the SDPI.
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