After the public campaigning for the second phase of the 18th Lok Sabha elections to be held on April 26 ended at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, the stage is set for the battle of bigwigs, Kota Srinivas Poojary of the BJP and K. Jayaprakash Hegde of the Congress, in Udupi-Chikkamagaluru constituency.
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The candidates had over a month to undertake extensive campaigning in the constituency that has four Assembly segments each from Udupi and Chikkamagaluru districts. While the four Assembly segments in Udupi, Kundapura, Udupi, Kaup, and Karkala, are held by the BJP, the four in Chikkamagaluru, Sringeri, Mudigere, Chikkamagaluru, and Tarikere, are held by the Congress.
Congress candidate for Udupi-Chikkamagaluru K. Jayaprakash Hegde campaigning at Kota-Padukare village in Udupi district on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Mr. Poojary had an early advantage of initiating the campaign as the party had finalised his name on March 14 itself while Mr. Hegde’s name was finalised on March 22, a week after the poll calendar of events was announced. Both are familiar in the region with Mr. Poojary being an MLC from the local bodies constituency and a former Minister, and Mr. Hegde being a former MLA, former Minister, and a former MP.
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Dignified campaign
Rather than mega public meetings, the candidates chose to hold more street corner meetings, contacting voters in shops and industrial establishments, and door-to-door visits. Both known for their political statesmanship hardly made any personal attacks and chose instead to campaign on the development plank.
Mr. Poojary’s campaign was mostly based on seeking votes to strengthen the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi even as he attempted to portray his work as a Minister for Fisheries, Social and Backward Classes Welfare in the previous governments. Mr. Hegde too highlighted his achievement of carving out Udupi district from Dakshina Kannada in 1997, his work as a Minister and as an MP from 2002 to 2004.
While the Congress had directed its district in-charge Ministers to extensively campaign for the party candidates, the Udupi in-charge Laxmi Hebbalkar was absent throughout the period. Party insiders said Ms. Hebbalkar was busy in campaigning for her son Mrinal Hebbalkar from Belagavi Lok Sabha constituency. No other stalwarts from the Congress campaigned for Mr. Hegde either.
On the other hand, Mr. Poojary had Mr. Modi’s roadshow in Mangaluru, former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda’s public meeting in Mudigere, Tamil Nadu State BJP president K. Annamalai’s meetings etc., to bolster his campaign.
Mr. Hegde wound up his public campaign with a rally in Kundapura town while Mr. Poojary did it with a paadayatra in Udupi City on Wednesday.