The scare sparked off by the Omicron variant of coronavirus does not appear to have made any impact on campaigning by different political parties for the Legislative Council elections. While political leaders have been holding forth on the need for caution over the new variant and the State Government has imposed new restrictions, the campaigning style of either the ruling party or the Opposition has not altered over the last week. All have continued organising conventions of elected representatives of local bodies with least regard for the COVID-19 protocol.
Last week, in Davangere district, the former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa addressed elected representatives of Mayakonda Assembly segment and sought votes for party candidate Arun D.S., son of the former Minister D.H. Shankaramurthy. Wherever he went, hundreds of people attended the meetings. Minister B. Sriramulu too was seen canvassing in the same constituency. In Uttara Kannada district, Minister Shivaram Hebbar was busy campaigning, addressing elected representatives in groups.
Congress leaders in Vijayapura district were busy with the convention of elected representatives of Vijayapura, Babaleshwar, and Nagathana Legislative Assembly segments. Along with the former Minister M.B. Patil, various Congress leaders took part in the convention and sought votes on behalf of the party candidate, Sunilgouda Patil.
In all these meetings, most of the leaders were seen not wearing masks and social distancing was thrown to wind.
In the dual-member Mysuru–Chamarajanagar Local Authorities’ constituency, the former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has called upon the State Government to spare no effort to prevent the entry of the mutant virus into the borders of Karnataka.
Minister for Cooperation S.T. Somashekhar, who is leading the BJP campaign in the same constituency, said he had discussed the precautionary measures that were needed to be put in place. But there was no let-up in either of their election campaigns.
While Mr. Siddaramaiah held a meeting with party leaders and party councillors from Mysuru city at his residence earlier last week, Mr. Somashekhar, who campaigned at Periyapatna, later held election meetings of members of local bodies in H.D. Kote and Hunsur, accompanied by a battery of party leaders. JD(S) candidate C.N. Manje Gowda too campaigned as usual and held election meetings in Nanjangud and Hunsur.
In Hassan, JD(S) leader H.D. Revanna, whose son Suraj Revanna is the party candidate, held meetings in all taluk centres before finalising the candidate. The party leaders are now convening meetings of small groups at hobli centres and village panchayat headquarters.
And with public campaign ending on Wednesday the campaigning is all set to intensify. While Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai himself has a tight campaign itinerary scheduled for Monday and Tuesday in north Karnataka, Mr. Siddaramaiah was busy campaigning in northern districts on Sunday and on Monday too he is scheduled to address meetings.
