The announcement of the poll dates has provided a level playing field for the Opposition parties, as it has taken away the official powers of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his Ministers.
Leveraging this, the Bharatiya Janata Party is set to intensify its attack on the Congress and will release a “chargesheet” against the government listing its alleged failures and scams.
“The idea is that the ruling dispensation will not have any official privileges or the support of bureaucracy in defending itself,” said a source. The BJP Yuva Morcha is launching a week-long campaign ‘Karunada Yuva Jagruthi Yatre’ from Thursday.
The party’s youth workers will visit all the houses in their booths with a pamphlet on the alleged failures of the Congress government.
Also, the party wants to announce the names of at least 120 candidates within a week and complete the poll manifesto as the next priority, said a party source.
Meanwhile, with the enforcement of model code of conduct, the Election Commission is keeping a vigil on poll expenses and campaign. But this will not mean much change in the schedule of poll preparations, a strategist insisted. “This is because there was a rough idea of poll dates as all the parties were expecting it to be held anywhere in the first or second week of May,” he said.
Meanwhile BJP national president Amit Shah, who just completed a tour of Tumakuru and Davangere districts, is scheduled to visit the State again from March 30.
This time, he will visit Mysuru, Chamarajanagar, Mandya and Ramanagaram. His booth-level workers’ convention on the occasion would also include Hassan district.
He is also scheduled to visit Suttur Mutt and Ganapathi Sachchidananda Ashrama besides interacting with members of the erstwhile Mysuru royal family.
He will also visit Srikanteshwara Temple in Nanjangud and Cheluvarayaswamy temple in Melkote besides the Crafts Park in Channapatna. This is in addition to the Scheduled Tribes convention in Chamarajanagar district.
