Kannada actor Ramya and Varun Gandhi campaigned for the Congress and the BJP, respectively, in Dakshina Kannada on Friday. Youth Congress member Ms. Ramya hit the streets of Mangalore City South and Mangalore constituencies. BJP General Secretary Mr. Gandhi campaigned in Bantwal and Moodbidri.
Ms. Ramya could easily adjust to the humdrum of campaigning. “Politically and climatically, it’s hot now,” she said, and added, “I am used to working in such conditions during film shooting. There is umbrella to cover, which I miss now,” she told reporters, before proceeding for a campaign in the city and Ullal.
“Campaign by star campaigners impacts five per cent of the electorate. Every vote is important,” she said, replying to a statement by senior Congress leader B. Janardhan Poojary that actors have less impact in Dakshina Kannada.
Ms. Ramya met shopkeepers and people gathered at Hampankatta circle. She then proceeded to Ullal to campaign for the Congress candidate U.T. Khader. She marched with Mr. Khader covering areas including Thokkottu and Someshwar. She then addressed a public meeting at Mudipu, where there was good turnout.
‘People angry’
Addressing a BJP rally at B.C. Road, Mr. Gandhi said that the results of the Assembly elections in Karnataka will have an impact on the Lok Sabha elections to be held next year. Campaigning for Bantwal candidate Rajesh Naik, he said the corruption in the Central government has angered people across the nation. “I have toured the nation, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, and there is discernable anger among the people at the UPA Government. In the past 10 years, the government has taken the nation 10 years backward,” he said.
He called upon people to vote for someone who can preserve the “swaabhiman (integrity)” and “culture” of the nation.
Earlier he paid reverence to the deity at the Rajarajeshwari temple in Polali, Bantwal taluk, and later addressed a gathering in Moodbidri.
