Summary:
In Bengaluru, of 28 MLAs including one from Anekal, 27 have real estate background. Prominent MLAs among these include industries minister KJ George, Vijayanagar MLA and former minister M Krishnappa and Bomannahalli MLA Sathish Reddy. With real estate prices soaring, the lobby has now become powerful. “It is also partly because MLAs these days are getting huge pay packets,” Budhya added.Prashanth Sambargi, a partner at Mars Realty, revealed political parties in Karnataka are largely controlled by real estate, education tycoons, mining, sugar and granite moguls. An analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), an NGO, and National Election Watch has shown that about 90% of the total 222 MLAs have the highest average annual income of Rs 1.11 crore..