Neck-and-neck race likely in two-cornered fight for Hosur seat

Hosur is a growth story scripted in the early 1970s when Tamil Nadu’s first two industrial estates were set up one each in Hosur and Ranipet. In the five decades that followed, Hosur would transform from a quiet, cold, agrarian landscape into a major automotive manufacturing hub with a captive MSME ecosystem.

The town-city has come a long way from the 70s, when the first of the two major automotive manufacturing companies — Ashok Leyland and TVS — set up their units here. Currently, its industrial ecosystem is expanding to include electronics and electric vehicle manufacturing, built on massive capital investments.

The electorate

Hosur’s promixity to Bengaluru sped up its transformation into a satellite town of the saturated capital city and, later, into a real estate investment destination — a buzzing city breaking out of the mould of a grey industrial town.

The city’s demographics include over a lakh migrant workers keeping its automotive and electronics manufacturing industry well oiled, and the middle-class white collar workers who had migrated to the city to make it their home and with a vote.

Today, this vision of Hosur is being resisted by the original inhabitants of this once vastly agrarian-horticultural landscape — the predominantly Kannada-Telugu speaking marginal and landed farming class that is increasingly feeling marginalised in its own soil.

Hosur’s rich, cool climate promoted the cultivation of export-grade cut flowers and vegetables. The manufacturing industry coexisted with the original agricultural landscape and livelihood, up until now, when the push for investment and industry is gathering momentum and is being challenged by farmers.

Here, big-ticket projects is a two-edged sword. The push for more SIPCOTs, knowledge corridors and now a proposed airport has pushed farmers on a war path with the government, staunchly opposing more land alienation.

The agitations recall past land acquisitions for the string of SIPCOTs, ring roads, bypasses connecting Bengaluru with Chennai.

Moreover, the new byepasses to the Bengaluru airport has cut down travel time from Hosur to 1.5 hours. This has called into the question the logic of another airport, which could disrupt the tranquil landscape of rural Hosur.

This not-so unidimensional story is likely to influence voter choices this elections, where Hosur is headed for a two-cornered contest.

Contestants in the fray

The AIADMK has fielded its former MLA P. Balakrishna Reddy, who served part of the 2016 term till he resigned following his conviction in an old rioting case (while he was with the BJP). He has since been acquitted.

The DMK has fielded the incumbent Corporation Mayor S.A. Sathya, a local who won the bypolls in 2019 by a margin of 25,000, defeating Mr. Balakrishna Reddy’s wife, who had stood in for the seat vacated by her convicted husband.

As the current Mayor, Mr. Sathya is seen as friendly, reacheable and is widely travelled through the constituency. However, an expanding city, with its industrial push but with an infrastructure under pressure, is a grievance among the town residents.

National politics and Hosur

Traditionally, Hosur with its proximity to Karnataka has gravitated towards national parties and has voted Congress. The incumbent Krishnagiri MP K. Gopinath is a three time MLA from here. The Dravidian parties made inroads since 2016.

But the simmering discontent among farmers who stand to lose land from the proposed large-scale projects is likely to hurt the DMK. The predominant Reddy-Gowda community here is expected to rally behind the AIADMK’s Balakrishna Reddy. As for actor Vijay’s TVK, its influence could be limited in the rural areas that root for Telugu stars like K. Pawan Kalyan and Chiranjeevi.

As such, Hosur’s battle at the ballot will be a close-finish for either winner.