Devotion has had its chance in Malur; it is now the job of ‘fashion’.
After organising free trips to religious centres, politicians in Malur have taken to distributing Surat sarees to win the votes of women.
Incidentally, beds and bureaus are also stacked up to ensure the voters are pleased and vote in their favour.
There is competition in also the number of sarees given to women in the taluk- some politicians are giving one each, while some competitors are handing three to four sarees to each woman.
Politics of wooing
Malur taluk has always been in news for the politicians’ ‘art of winning votes’. Thousands of voters have already been taken to Thirupathi and Dharmasthala without charges.
Now, S N Krishnaiah Setty, local legislator and BJP candidate for the coming Assembly elections, is begging for the blessings of the women, generously handing them sarees, bundles of which follow the legislator to any function or programme he attends.
Sources close to the legislator say that about 40,000 sarees, each worth Rs 250 to Rs 300 have been stacked in a godown in Bangalore for such distribution.
Last week, Setty distributed free sarees to women at KG Halli of Tekal hobli and all villages under the Gram Panchayat. On Wednesday, he gave sarees after inaugurating various development programmes at Abbenahalli in the taluk.
In addition, the legislator has started distributing beds. About 2,000 beds too are said to be preserved in Bangalore, and Setty is known to have placed orders for bureaus also. The recipients of the former and the number of bureaus are both unknown as yet.
Manjunath competes
Kodihalli Manjunath is literally competing with Krishnaiah Setty even in this field, opting to give the same things to citizens as Setty.
Manjunath, known to have gone the Setty way of luring voters, apparently has decided no woman should be forced to admit to lacking sarees. “He has been giving almost four times the number of sarees distributed by Setty,” said sources close to Manjunath.
Malur taluk is overflowing with enticements. The citizens, however, seem quite okay with the situation.
Other constituencies
Former minister K Srinivas Gowda, the most likely JD(S) candidate from Kolar constituency, and M S Anand of BSR Congress too have begun campaigning. So far, they have been found to reach out to voters by handing out only pamphlets.
In Mulbagal, Kottur Manjunath has been organising donations through his fan clubs. The competition is pretty similar in Bangarpet, Srinivaspur and Kolar Gold Fields constituencies.
