Campaigning hits top gear for 2nd phase Karnataka polls

Tue, May 13 04:03 PM

Bangalore, May 13 (PTI) With just a day left for campaigning to end for the second phase of assembly elections in Karnataka, electioneering has picked up in all the ten districts with top leaders of political parties criss- crossing, beating the soaring temperature to woo the voters. BJP and Congress have focused on all the 66 assembly segments that go to polls on May 16 and engaged in a see-saw battle to gain an upper hand over each other.

In the 2004 polls, BJP won 37 seats from this central Karnataka, Malnad, coastal belt and parts of North Karnataka, conceding 22 to Congress and 14 to JDS. With some of the constituencies undergoing change in the delimitation process, BJP is eyeing to scale up its strength while the Congress is making a determined bid to drub the saffron party. Considering the importance of this phase, Congress President Sonia Gandhi addressed public meetings at Koppal and Mangalore today, while BJP's Sushma Swaraj went through a hectic schedule in Bellary, Moodigeri and Shikaripura where her party's chief ministerial candidate B S Yeddyurappa is locked in battle royale with S Bangarappa of Samajwadi Party.

Bollywood couple Dharmendra and Hema Malini would be electioneering for BJP in Bellary tomorrow. The JDS has suffered an initial jolt in Bellary City where its candidate, M Diwakarbabu, who defected from Congress in a lightening speed, reunited with the parent party and walked out of poll fray.

PTI.

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