BJP plans campaign blitzkrieg by top leaders, actors from April 20-24

The BJP has lined up roadshows, rallies, conventions and roadside meetings in the state, from April 20-24, by top leaders like Prime Minister Modi, BJP national president J P Nadda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai. 

Modi will address rallies in Chikkaballapur and Bengaluru on April 20. A roadshow by the prime minister in Bengaluru is also likely, in a bid to reach out to voters of three constituencies in Bengaluru city and the Bangalore Rural seat. The party is planning to organise two or three roadshows by Shah. 

“Our campaign is divided into three categories - class, mass and Hindutva. For masses, we will have leaders like Modi, Shah and Nadda, canvassing for votes. To woo class voters, we will field leaders like External Affairs Minister S Jaishanakar. Too attract voters inclined to Hindutva, we will have leaders like Adityanath and Himanta seeking votes,” BJP MLC S Keshava Prasad said. 

State leaders like B S Yediyurappa, B Y Vijayendra and R Ashoka are already campaigning aggressively, along with actors-turned-leaders like Jaggesh, Tara Anuradha, Shruti, Malavika and Sumalatha Ambareesh. 

Union ministers S Jaishankar, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, Piyush Goyal and Smriti Irani will hold intellectual meetings across the state. 

A senior leader told DH that the party had sought dates from Malayalam actor Suresh Gopi and Telugu actor Pawan Kalyan, to campaign for BJP in the state.  The party also plans to bring in Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to attract Marathi-speaking voters, in constituencies bordering Maharashtra like Belgaum, Chikkodi, Bijapur, Gulbarga and Bidar.