By invitation only please: Bangalore holds a 'public' political debate

Bangalore: It was a case of once bitten, twice shy for the Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC) - a citizen's forum.

The forum managed to pull off a public debate between all the candidates contesting the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls from Bangalore Central constituency, without any disruptions.

But, this public debate was a 'by invitation' only event. (India Votes 2014: full coverage)

The event had restricted entry; identities of all the attendees and media personnel were scanned to avoid any chaos.

Last week, a similar effort had ended in vain when certain members of the Congress and the BJP disrupted the debate between candidates of the high-profile Bangalore South constituency.

Supporters of BJP candidate Ananth Kumar and Congress's Nandan Nilekani had almost come to blows during the debate. (India Votes 2014: Schedule)

During the three-hour-long event, the various candidates of Bangalore Central constituency -- V Balakrishnan, former Infosys CFO and Aam Aadmi Party candidate, sitting Member of Parliament and BJP leader PC Mohan, Congress candidate Rizwan Arshad and Janata Dal - Secular's (JD-S) Nandini Alva discussed what they intend to do for the next five years if elected as a parliamentarian. (Blog: I support the AAP candidate, but Nandan Nilekani has my best wishes)

"We have volunteers in each of these ward levels. We will get the structure bottoms up, we will get the issues together and we will create a central repository where we will act as a pressure group to make legislators own up responsibility, " said Balakrishanan.

Sitting MP from Bangalore Central -- BJP leader PC Mohan -- said, "Bangalore has a lot of traffic problems. Suburban trains are a must (for the city) . I want to bring in a coordination committee for all transport systems including the railways, suburban trains, BMTC (Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation) and the Metro, so there's a coordination committee for these four transport systems. Then we can lessen the pressure on the traffic. "

Rizwan Arshad, the relatively young leader of the Congress, was hopeful about upsetting the chances of the BJP in the party's bastion.

"I will stand up for my constituency in Parliament and demand our rights. I have been a youth activist and a part of many movements," he said.

JD-S leader Nandini Alva said, "I have a comprehensive plan for women empowerment starting from financial empowerment to social empowerment."

The organizers of the event believe that the amount of public participation in the event, despite restricted entry, was at least a start as, they fear, India may not yet be ready for public political debates after the ugly scenes witnessed during the debate between candidates from Bangalore South constituency.

"This particular programme, when candidates met citizens, went off without a hitch. I think it was a very, very useful programme. I think citizens got to understand what the candidates wanted to do and deliver for the city of Bangalore as MPs," said Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Biocon CMD and a member of B.PAC.

Bangalore Central is the highest revenue generating constituency for Karnataka, thanks to the huge commercial establishments located here.

But even in a high-profile constituency like this one, issues like interrupted electricity supply, corruption, bad roads and shortage in the supply of drinking water remain the most major issues for the residents.

"The one-on-one between candidates helped us understand what each person intends to do and who has his/her agenda cut out if voted to power. It was very useful." said Keerthi Rao, a voter from Bangalore Central constituency.