Q. As someone with a strong political background, how do you find the experience of contesting Lok Sabha elections for the first time, particularly in a constituency like Bangalore Central?

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A: Contesting in elections is always a unique experience incomparable with any other profession or even any other role in politics. When it comes to parliamentary elections, it is even more all-consuming because you are talking about reaching out to 20-25 lakh voters.

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The physical, emotional and mental stamina it demands from candidates is extraordinary, and at the same time gives us the kind of love and blessings from the people that is unmatched. As I go around the corners of the constituency, whether it is at the far end of Mahadevapura and Varthur or Bellandur, in the heart of Shivajinagar and Shantinagar, in the elite areas of Indiranagar or in the bylanes of Chamarajpet, connecting with people, understanding their issues and thinking about what we can do to improve their lives via governance and the development of India as a whole is an extraordinary experience that I would never trade for anything else.

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I am blessed to have become a candidate for Bangalore Central constituency and this campaign experience is a golden part of my life that I will always cherish. The only experience that will be even better is that of being the Bangalore Central MP.

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Q. Bangalore Central has been a BJP stronghold. Do you perceive this as a significant challenge in your campaign?

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A: If you look at the last few elections, the MP's winning margin has barely been a lakh or so. So while Bangalore Central has elected the same BJP candidate (P C Mohan) for three terms, it has been with a relatively modest margin. What that says to us is that lakhs and lakhs of voters want Congress, almost as many.

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My opponent has been recycled four times and there is no enthusiasm among voters, or even his own cadre. He is a missing person and no one has seen him. He has raised no issues on our behalf in the Parliament. He hasn’t spoken about our tax dues or farmers and drought. So I find that I have an extraordinary opportunity to win this term and serve the people.

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Every MP election is challenging and we can never take voters for granted -- be it reaching out to them, understanding the issues, persuading them that we have the answers or convincing them to vote for us. Voters need to choose an MP carefully to represent their voice in Parliament. I am fully up to the challenge as an educationist, as a fresh candidate looking at Bangalore Central issues, as someone with over two and half decades of both professional experience and political experience. I believe I can win this election and address the key issues of Bangalore Central.

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Q. Do you think the 'five guarantees' implemented by the Congress could impact the elections positively?

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A: Guarantees, whether the ones implemented in Karnataka already or those in the Congress manifesto, have taken Karnataka and India by storm. As you can see not one person is speaking about the BJP manifesto, not even the BJP! But the Prime Minister himself cannot stop talking about the Congress manifesto. This is big because it can revolutionise governance. What the government can do for people in the minds of ordinary youth, women, marginalised sections of society, businesses and people with aspirations has received a fillip in this manifesto. It is a manifesto that leaves no one behind.

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In Karnataka, already crores of women have availed the Shakti scheme and crores of women are already beneficiaries of Grihalakshmi. Thanks to this, they are able to supplement the income of their families and are able to attain better livelihoods. They are able to use the money to buy quality food and milk and shoes and school bags for their children and their lives have transformed.

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I am confident that our manifesto will play a key role in securing victory for us in these elections because it has a compelling agenda to offer to India and a fresh vision that the last 10 years has simply not seen. The last 10 years have been only about broken promises and utterly pathetic governance and a focus on dividing people rather than taking everybody along.

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This manifesto focuses on delivering something for people of all social classes. It focuses on the right things like education and healthcare. It focuses on the most important things like jobs and livelihoods and the growth of businesses. I am sure it is a winning manifesto.

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Q: Some critics argue that the Congress manifesto lacks specific policies for the working class and instead focuses on offering freebies. What is your response?

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I will talk about the 'freebies.' First, there is no such thing as freebies. Every resident of India, not even citizens, but every resident pays taxes -- GST. This means they are contributing to the Indian economy with every single thing they buy.

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They are not getting anything for free, but what we have realised from the studies worldwide from many countries and from expert economists in developing economies is that when people earn too little and they are barely able to feed themselves and manage their daily and monthly expenses, they are just one incident away from devastation, That one incident could be a child falling sick with dysentery for three days. It could be a little accident at work, like a painter falling off a ladder and the sort of thing that demands an extra 1000 rupees. That is something that a large section of the population -- as per the Prime Minister 81 crore people -- don’t have. This large section of the population does not have access to discretionary funds which is why we have tried to make sure that no one falls further down.

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After the devastation of Covid people have become poorer and they need access to discretionary funds, which the Modi government has not provided. Therefore we have decided that in the states in which we govern we are going to ensure that it happens and people don't slip into poverty.

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Schemes that enable free mobility for women are to increase women’s labour force participation rate all over. India has one of the lowest women’s labour force participation rates in the world and mobility is the one of the key ways to enable an increase in that. So none of these are freebies.

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The second aspect is that the Modi government has completely brought to a stop any data collection. Even the census has not been done -- something that has been done since the 1800s has been stopped. The 2021 census for no reason was not done. Similarly NSS data consumption, data, sample survey, family and health service, district level service, education related service, health care outcomes, even maternal mortality rates are not current. This is because the governance has been poor and the Modi government is scared of what the data will show. No specific policies can be devised without seeing the data.

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So one of the first things we need to do is to make sure that we count and this is part of the reason why in our manifesto we are asking for some of the surveys to be done. How do we know how much reservation is reasonable and whether that relates to actual representation? The same goes for what we need to do for health care or for education or for any number of other things. So specific policies will come as soon as we get a handle on exactly what the current situation is after the Modi government’s disastrous tenure.

Q. Do you believe that issues such as the Ram Mandir, Uniform Civil Code (UCC), and Article 370 serve as vote banks for the BJP?

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A: Faith is a very precious matter for every human being and it will always be important to people. That said, the Ram Mandir is built by a trust, not the government, on the land awarded by a Supreme Court verdict. So it would be improper to attribute any of this to the Modi government. As far as article 370 goes that was already an issue for the 2019 election and it is done. We cannot comment on UCC until we see a draft. The BJP tends to talk big and deliver little. Nothing to say unless they have a draft and bring it to Parliamentary debate.

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Q. What is your vision for addressing the needs and development of Bangalore Central?

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A: My manifesto talks of my promises. Coming from an educator’s background. I have a vision for how I would like to transform education. The Congress was responsible for the right to education act, and I would like to ensure that there is quality education made available. I want health care access to all and that should be quality healthcare again.

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I believe in sustainable mobility which means that we must prioritise mass, public transport like Metro and suburban rail and buses and pedestrians and I also believe that if we can acquire land for industries and businesses, we should be able to acquire land for parks.  We must have greenery and ensure that there are sufficient lung spaces and climate change doesn’t overtake us.

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Most of all I believe that accessibility is key to any public representative. I will be available for my constituents to meet. I will make sure to rotate myself across the large constituency that is Bangalore Central so that I can meet people and understand the problems.

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Q. Bangalore Central has a significant population of marginalised and underprivileged communities. How do you plan to address educational policies to benefit them?

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A: I have talked about it extensively in my manifesto. Here are the key points: “Namma Makkalu Namma Bhavishya” "Our Children Our Future": World-class education for all. We brought in the RTE which unlocked millions of children’s dreams. Now we will amend it to make education free for all from Class 1 to 12.

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Right to Quality Education: International standards of infrastructure, curriculum and teaching in every public school. Every class will have a dedicated teacher for every subject. Discourage the appointment of contractual teachers in regular vacancies and the use of teachers for non-teaching activities. Top-rated foreign universities to be set up in Bengaluru. Double the scholarships for OBC, SC/ST in higher education and create opportunities to study abroad.

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Beyond Books: Sports and arts as mainstream careers with world-class facilities. One community sports centre per Assembly Constituency. Sports scholarships of Rs 10,000 per month to talented and budding sportspersons below the age of 21.

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Q. Additionally, many voters in Bangalore Central are daily wage labourers, who often lack access to adequate healthcare. How do you propose to address their health needs effectively?

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A: Again, it's elucidated in my manifesto. Main change is going to be the 25L Health Insurance Scheme. Here is an excerpt from my manifesto. “Arogyave Bhagya” “Health is Wealth” Cashless insurance up to Rs 25 lakhs. Increase GDP spend on health to 4%.

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Mental Health: Eliminate stigma. Awareness for diagnosis and professional treatment of mental health issues. Adequately trained professionals and facilities.

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Health Tourism: Make Bengaluru default destination for health tourism.