Why I'm voting for Krishna Byre Gowda

I’ll be voting for Krishna Byre Gowda of Congress as my representative in the Loksabha from Bengaluru North.

I wrote down the reasons for my vote on a recent flight, ironically to Ahmedabad.

I’ve been voting since 2001 TN assembly elections and till 2014 had voted for more than 10 different parties, but not Congress. In 2014, I voted Nandan Nilekani for MP. In 2018 Karnataka Assembly election, I shamefully voted for a nobody from Congress, because I badly wanted Siddaramaiah Govt to be re-elected.

So, this is the 3rd time in a row, I’ll be voting for Congress!! This is surprising for someone who was a BJP supporter all my youth, and still am absolutely disgusted by Congress dynasty politics. There is no politician I hate more than Rahul Gandhi.

Krishna Byre Gowda is the son of a former minister too, and ‘inherited’ the MLA seat upon his father’s death. In 2009, I voted against him in Bengaluru South because I thought he was a dynast.

But I have since followed Krishna Byre Gowda (KBG), to find that he is an incredibly nice person, an intelligent politician, and easily the best minister in the Karnataka Govt.

As agriculture minister, his work on farm ponds, agricultural equipment renting scheme, supporting millet farming etc were extremely important in a state that faced successive droughts. He also represented Karnataka in the GST council.

KBG is now bringing the same rigour to Rural Development ministry, reviving water bodies and focusing on NREGA jobs with Secretary L K Atheeq, who is a very capable administrator himself.

One winter day in 2017, with flights delayed due to fog, I saw KBG wandering alone in Bengaluru airport with a book in his hand. I thought it was ok to disturb him and we talked politics for nearly an hour!

I’m absolutely delighted to be voting for Krishna Byre Gowda.

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I do usually encourage people to vote for the best candidate on the ballot and not worry about the parties. Not this time. Please do not vote for BJP. Anyone contesting on a BJP ticket, is displaying poor judgement at best, a bigot on average, or a Hindutva terrorist at worst.

Narendra Modi has led a shit government which has run the economy to ruin. No one believes the fake GDP numbers. India is growing at 5 percent or less. There is a massive jobs crisis. In a country with the most poor people in the world, Modi Govt’s economic performance is absolutely unacceptable.

Further, Modi and his Hindutva fascist scum have made life miserable for Dalits, Muslims, Kashmiris, non-Hindi speakers, Liberals like me, and pretty much anyone who doesn’t subscribe to their politics. I was a Boy Scout who hoisted the “National Flag” most of my life. Not anymore. Now, I cringe every time I’m made to stand for the “National Anthem” in cinema theatres.

I went and campaigned against Modi in Varanasi in 2014. But I wasn’t blindly opposing his govt these past 5 years. I supported Demonetisation of high value currency notes to increase tax compliance. But secretaries Hasmukh Adhia and Suryakanta Das implemented it so badly that it was comical, if not for the hardship it brought to a billion people.

I support multi-rate GST and was absolutely delighted when Modi briefly worked with PM Nawaz Sharif to improve relations with Pakistan. I liked the initiative to make people give up LPG subsidy. So far, I don’t think there is corruption in Rafale aircraft deal, except for the nepotism in giving offset contracts to Anil Ambani’s firm.

But that’s about it. This govt is a failure on all fronts. Nearly all his colleagues are incompetent. He has wrecked every institution of the Republic.

I’m an anti-Nationalist. But I do take people’s security seriously. What kind of a Nationalist lets Pakistan airforce bomb Indian military installations? 1 MIG lost with the pilot taken POW, 6 airmen killed by friendly fire on their MI7 helicopter. No discernible loss for PAF. This was the worst military defeat for India in my lifetime (I’ve followed news on Kargil War and Operation Parakram). And yet, the coward goes around claiming the February skirmish as victory!

Vote for any non-BJP party, independents, NOTA or even go on a holiday and skip voting. But please do not vote for BJP in 2019.