Big guns head north for 2nd of phase polls

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi will lead the campaign of the BJP and the Congress-JD(S) coalition, respectively, for the second phase of polling for 14 seats in the state scheduled April 23.

State leaders from both parties have already started shifting base up north to anchor the campaign for the second phase. Of the 14 seats that go to polls on April 23, the Congress currently holds four and BJP the rest.

Even as 14 seats in South Karnataka go to polls on April 18, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to address massive rallies in Bagalkot and Chikkodi on the same day. On April 19, Rahul is scheduled to address massive rallies at Chikkodi and Raichur.

The Congress has already assigned tasks to various leaders, including those contesting in the first phase of polls, to stay put in various Lok Sabha constituencies of the second phase for three days starting April 19 and oversee campaign.

These include D K Suresh (Shimoga), R Dhruvanarayana (Bellary), B K Hariprasad (Uttara Kannada), H C Mahadevappa (Bijapur), M Veerappa Moily (Raichur), Krishna Byre Gowda (Dharwad), U T Khader (Belgaum), B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan (Haveri) and K H Muniyappa (Davangere).

Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Wednesday toured the Shimoga Lok Sabha constituency and will head to Uttara Kannada on Thursday. Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah, who campaigned in the Gulbarga Lok Sabha segment on Wednesday, will head to Koppal, Gadag, Ballari, Belagavi,
Davangere, Dharwad and Bagalkot districts over the next three days.

Senior BJP leaders too are campaigning in north Karnataka from Wednesday. Party state president B S Yeddyurappa campaigned in Kalaburagi, while party leader K S Eshwarappa was camping in Bagalkot.

A majority of these leaders are scheduled to attend the Modi rally in Bagalkot and Chikkodi on Thursday.