Five songs praising Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai were launched by an eponymous ‘fan club’ Monday, in what appears to be a bigger plan to spruce up a somewhat battered image of the head of the state.
The songs were released a day ahead of the ruling BJP's much-touted campaign tour by a team led by Bommai and his predecessor B S Yediyurappa.
These songs, which eulogise Bommai's contributions over the last two decades, will be played during the state tour.
The United Forum of North Karnataka Associations president Shivakumar Meti told reporters that Bommai’s contributions as water resource minister, home minister and chief minister are "worth telling" and hence the songs.
“Among five songs, one is dedicated to his contributions to the state as home minister, while second one is about his work done during his stint as water resources minister. Other three songs explain his work ethics and simplicity as chief minister. Of these three songs, one is dedicated to highlight his ‘Common Man’ image and another song to narrate ‘his pains and trauma’ as CM titled as Rathavanneri Horatanu Karananu, Yuddhava Gellalu,” Meti explained.
The songs were launched by Karnataka State Forest Development Corporation Limited chairperson Tara Anuradha.
On the sidelines of this function, Meti told DH that the process of forming an exclusive ‘Bommai Fan Club’ in all taluks is underway. These clubs would spread awareness about Bommai's good work done as CM. “I'm deeply hurt by the Opposition’s campaign to malign him. He has been unfairly targeted by his opponents. Therefore, we like-minded people from various parts of the state, will form a fan club,” he said.
"The clubs' primary job would be to tackle social media campaigns vilifying Bommai and to form WhatsApp groups to disseminate information on his works," Meti said.
The recent 'PayCM' campaign dented Bommai's image, which was under some strain already.
Tour to start Oct 11
Bommai and Yediyurappa will kickstart the BJP's poll tour Tuesday from the Raichur Rural assembly seat, an ST reserve that has a huge presence of the Valmiki community. The duo will cover 52 Assembly seats between October 11 and December 25. Of the 52 seats, 20 are currently rerepresented by Congress MLAs and four by JD(S).
Seven rallies have been planned: SC Morcha (Mysuru, October 16), OBC Morcha (Kalaburagi, October 30), Raitha Morcha (Hubballi, November 13), Yuva Morcha (Shivamogga, November 27), ST Morcha (Ballari, November 27), Mahila Morcha (Bengaluru, December 25) and Minority Morcha (Vijayapura, January 8).