Roads and taxes top Hindu priest’s priorities in mayoral campaign
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/08/2018 (2050 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The rough and tumble of a municipal election campaign is not where you’d expect to find a Hindu holy man, but that’s exactly where Venkat Machiraju wants to be.
The longtime priest at St. Anne’s Road Hindu Temple recently registered his campaign for the mayoralty.
Machiraju, 52, said he can use his experience as a cleric to get things done at city hall.
“In the temple, too, there is some level of politics but I think by being a soft voice you are heard more and you can make more friends,” Machiraju said. “I have a lot of people in the community behind me because I talk very nice to everyone. You have to be tough sometimes, but you don’t have to be rude.”
Machiraju is originally from India, where he studied mechanical engineering at university and worked in the profession for a few years before becoming a Hindu priest. He immigrated to Canada 22 years ago, he said, working first as a priest at a temple in Regina for seven years, and then here in Winnipeg for the past 13.
He has four children — three daughters and a son — between the ages of 12 and 20. He and his wife are currently separated.
Machiraju said becoming a priest was a natural transition for him, as he had been interested in spiritual matters since childhood.
“I always cared for people’s well-being and always tried to help people. I see the job as mayor as always trying to help people.”
As of the end of business Friday, there were eight candidates registered to challenge Brian Bowman for the mayor’s job on Oct. 24.
Machiraju said he’s known in the local Hindu community as Pundit Venkat, which he said is the Hindu equivalent of Rev. Venkat, and he’ll be identifying himself that way for the campaign. His campaign website can be found at www.punditvenkatformayor.ca
Despite being a man of faith, Machiraju’s campaign skips over social issues and focuses on dollars and cents; he says the city must complete the inner-ring road and expand its capacity to shorten commute times, reduce property taxes, encourage development and eliminate the impact levy and reform the public-tendering process.
“My job is always to make sure I listen to people’s problems and do my best to solve them. It’s not just faith alone, they have day-to-day life to deal with and a lot of that involves finances.”
Machiraju said his main goal when elected will be to convince Ottawa and the provincial government to allocate a greater share of the gasoline taxes to the city ($36 million in 2017), which would allow council to reduce property taxes. He estimates the two levels of government collect about $1.2 million in gas tax from Winnipeg motorists every day, explaining if city hall got all of those funds it would be more than enough to continue the record pace on street improvements and finance the completion of the inner-ring road.
aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca