In race against time, candidates up campaign pace

It is a race against time for parties and candidates in the City as the voting date approaches. The rising mercury levels are no deterrent for the campaigners.

 

The roads were awash with the party colours due to the slew of padayatras and roadshows that were taken out Saturday. 

Groups of supporters of candidates also went door to door, wooing voters. 

Sadananda Gowda, the BJP nominee for Bangalore North sought to touch the ‘native chord’ by meeting voters having roots from the coastal districts, where he hails from. He also tried to connect with people from Kodagu and other Malnad districts. Gowda also spared time for a padayatra in KR Puram. The evening was spent wooing company heads from the IT and BT sector.

The bike rally for C Narayanaswamy, the Congress candidate in the constituency, turned a motorcade of sorts as the party’s campaigners (writer Girish Karnad and ‘Mukhyamantri’ Chandru, the chairperson of the Kannada Development Authority) found it ‘uncomfortable’ to ride two-wheelers. 

Bangalore South Congress candidate Nandan Nilekani visited 10 to 15 local parks in Govindarajanagar and Vijayanagar as early as 5.45 am to interact with walkers and joggers. 

Ananth Kumar, his opponent from the BJP, held a padayatra at 7 am in Sudhamanagar, while his wife Tejaswini campaigned for him in Bommanahalli after a visit to the local Ganesha temple. 

For the JD(S), the highlight of the day was Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi, their star campaigner, seeking votes for Nandini Alva, the party’s candidate in Bangalore Central. Nandini is Oberoi’s mother-in-law. 

Her Congress rival Rizwan Arshad decided to seek the support of weekend shoppers and shopkeepers on Brigade Road in the Central Business District. He was accompanied by local MLAs of his party. He spent the evening by meeting leaders of the minority communities, including the pastors of the churches in Sarvagnanagar.

P C Mohan, BJP candidate for the constituency, sought votes in Jogupalya ward. The party has set an agenda for its Bangalore candidates to visit every Assembly constituency in their limits at least eight times before the polling date.

Soota roots for Nilekani

Nandan Nilekani had fellow IT professional Ashok Soota, co-founder of MindTree Technologies, rooting for him in the neighbourhoods of Koramangala, where he (Soota) resides. Soota joined Nandan’s wife Rohini in the campaigning.