Prime Minister Narendra Modi is camping in Karnataka and is addressing a meeting in Haveri, raising the spirits of party workers in North Karnataka. Simultaneously, the BJP’s organizational machinery is working tirelessly and has almost completed four rounds of door-to-door campaigning. In Hubli, BJP candidate Mahesh Tenginkai, party’s state general secretary and favorite of senior leader BL Santosh, is fighting hard to defeat Congress candidate Jagadish Shettar, whose exit from the BJP has become national news.
While Shettar enjoys the support of the locals and their goodwill, being a six-time MLA and former chief minister, the Hubli seat is a BJP and RSS stronghold. The Prime Minister’s visit to the nearby district of Haveri, where he spoke about the development measures taken by his government and a ‘double engine’ government in the state, seems to have struck a chord with voters.
Speaking to IANS, MR Krishna Tulangi, a farmer from Hubballi said, “The Prime Minister has said that the Government of India is buying urea at Rs 50 per kg and distributing it to farmers at Rs 5 per kg. There is one. Very important gesture from BJP government towards farmers. This time I will vote for BJP even though Jagadish Shettar is a good person and winnable candidate.”
There is support for BJP candidates in Gadag as well and most of the people this correspondent spoke to said that even though the Karnataka BJP is not perfect and there are allegations of corruption, the Prime Minister is doing good work for the country. To support them they have to vote for BJP.
Basavaraj Pujar, a driver from Gadag told IANS, “The prime minister in his speech at Haveri said that our country is currently the fifth largest economy in the world and will soon become the third largest. It filled me with pride and I Has decided.” To vote for the BJP.” In Belagavi, however, the presence of the Maharashtra Integration Committee (MES), which stands for the merger of Karnataka’s border districts with Maharashtra, is likely to dent the BJP’s prospects in the four seats.
Apart from the Prime Minister’s roadshows and public events, the presence of RSS grassroots workers is helping the BJP conduct door-to-door surveys, which the Congress lacks. Another factor is the presence of a large number of youth campaigning for the BJP, while the Congress has middle-aged people in its campaign team. Only two days are left for the election and as the campaigning ends today, BJP and Congress are all set to garner maximum votes.
Kharge appeals to people to take pride in ‘Bhumiputra’
In an emotional appeal, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday called upon the people of Karnataka to take pride in the fact that a ‘son of the soil’ is leading the party. Speaking in his home constituency Kalaburagi, he said he is 81 years old and if anyone wants to finish him, they can.
The veteran leader was touching upon a purported audio of Manikant Rathore, the BJP candidate in Chittapur constituency, purportedly saying that he would wipe out the entire Kharge family. Significantly, Rathore is facing several criminal cases including murder and is fighting against Kharge’s son Priyank Kharge.
Kharge said, “There must be some BJP leaders behind this man’s words. Otherwise how can he muster the courage to speak in the audio that he will destroy Kharge’s family?” In a public meeting, Kharge said that no one can eliminate him so easily. “I have Babasaheb’s (Ambedkar) constitution to protect me. People of Karnataka are behind me and now after becoming the Congress President, people of the country are behind me.”
He said that there is a conspiracy angle behind it and senior BJP leaders would have supported it. Kharge called upon the people of Kalaburagi to vote for the Congress to win all assembly seats in the district and neighboring Yadgir district. He said that the Congress leadership has made him its chief and Kalburgi should return after winning the elections to the Congress candidates.
He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Gujarat is talking about saving his honor by making all the BJP candidates win the elections because he is the ‘Bhumiputra’ of Gujarat. Kharge said that similarly, he was a “Bhoomiputra” of Karnataka and hence, people should vote for the Congress and win the elections.