There is no BSP candidate in Rajajinagar, but yet some sort of campaigning was on for him till recently.

As candidates of other parties were busy with their door-to-door campaign, they were taken aback when they came across pamphlets urging voters to cast their vote for the BSP candidate.

The pamphlets were sometimes found stuck to gates or doorposts, or simply strewn here and there. As they tried to solve the mystery, the campaign stopped as suddenly as it had begun.

Chavan: Keeping a meaningful silence

Why is State SP President S Bangarappa being supported by the Congress in the Shikaripur Assembly segment, where he is pitted against BJP’s Chief Ministerial candidate B S Yeddyurappa?

Some prominent Congress leaders have already made known the reasons, but AICC General Secretary Prithviraj Chauhan would like to maintain a studied silence on this.

Despite reporters repeatedly asking him to state reasons at a media briefing on Monday, Chauhan gave no reply.
When a reporter pointed out that the BJP has sought an explanation from his party, Chauhan argued that Congress owed no explanations to BJP on the issue.

Chauhan went a step ahead at the press conference, and explained the important role played by Bangarappa to help the BJP win in the coastal belt, and parts of the Malnad region. But what he conveniently forgot was the role played by Bangarappa in inflicting a humiliating defeat on the Congress in the 1994 elections. Maybe that’s why they say, politics makes strange bed fellows.

Cong’s manifesto arrears due!

Political parties are releasing their election-manifesto. They have promised various popular programmes to woo voters. The Congress, as in the previous election, has promised to provide a stipend of Rs 1,200 per month for unemployed youth this time too.

During the last elections, the party had promised Rs 500 as a stipend. However despite ruling the state for 20 months with the JD(S), the Congress did not implement it.

After the Congress released its manifesto at a glittering a function in Bangalore, a journalist commented that the party has the dues of Rs 500 announced the last time - this means that the party should give Rs 1,700 as stipend including arrears of Rs 500!

Working overtime

Former minister C Chennigappa is working overtime of late. He is not only striving for his own victory in the entirely new constituency of Doddaballapur, but also for his son Gowrishankar, who is contesting from Madhugiri for the first time.

Sources said Chennigappa campaigns for himself all through the day in Doddaballapur, and rushes to Madhugiri as the sun sets. Gowrishankar still being a cub in politics, the father is doing almost everything: chalking out strategies, organising workers and sometimes goes seeking votes on behalf of his son.