It's an election campaign where money does much of the talking. The real estate boom in Bangalore has thrown up a flush of nouveau rich realtors, including many first-time contestants, for the first phase of polls to be held on May 10. Similarly, the iron-ore mining sector in the Bellary region, which is thriving on an export boom to construction crazy China, has thrown up a slew of mine-owner contestants for the polls to be held in the region on May 16.

All political parties have claimed that they have no connections with cartels but have given tickets to them. According to Congress leader V.S. Ugrappa, “We are free of the real estate and mining mafia. Some people who do business in these areas are contesting the elections that is all”.

Here is a sampling of businessmen who have made their money do the job for them in the Karnataka polls:

• G. Prasad Reddy, 55, BJP candidate for the newly created BTM Layout constituency in Bangalore City, is worth a whopping Rs 313 crore. The first-time contestant claims to have made sufficient money and is now keen to prove himself in politics. Hailing from a landholding family, Prasad Reddy who studied till the tenth standard struck gold with the realty boom. He now owns hundreds of properties and 14 cars, including two 2007 model BMWs and a 2008 Bentley.

• D. Kupendra Reddy, 47, the Congress candidate for the Bommanahalli constituency in Bangalore, is worth Rs 180 crore. An undergraduate, Kupendra Reddy also hails from a landholding family and is debutant in politics. He is best known in Bangalore as the head of a company that sold a software park valued at Rs 136 crore to the family of former PM H.D. Devegowda. He was among several persons raided by the Income Tax department last year.

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