PM to address more rallies, 21 in all

BJP’s star campaigner Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be addressing 21 elections rallies, instead of 15 as planned earlier, in order to give a boost to the party’s campaign before the May 12 elections.

Modi, who started campaigning from May 1, was to tour Karnataka for five days till May 8 and address 15 rallies in various parts of the state. Now, as per the revised itinerary, he will extend his visit for one more day till May 9. The public campaign for the elections will end on May 10.

The party has added Dakshina Kannada, Bagalkot, Hubballi-Dharwad, Koppal, Chikkamagaluru and Bidar districts to the prime minister’s itinerary. With opinion polls predicting a hung Assembly, the BJP is hoping that Modi’s campaign blitz may improve the party’s prospects in the polls.

BJP counter-attack

Meanwhile, BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra said the Congress has no right to talk on corruption as many of its own leaders are facing serious charges. AICC president Rahul Gandhi is out on bail in the National Herald case, he said. Several other Congress leaders are involved in corrupt activities. Yet, they accuse BJP leader
B S Yeddyurappa of being corrupt, he added.

Yeddyurappa, who is the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate, has been acquitted of all charges and people of the state have accepted him as their leader,
he asserted.