K'taka polls: Last-ditch efforts to woo voters before May 8 deadline

BENGALURU: With less than a week remaining for the May 10 Karnataka Assembly elections, political parties in the state are making last-ditch efforts to woo the voters before the campaigning ends on Monday.

In the final phase of electioneering, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in 20 events, while Union Minister for Home Amit Shah will attend 25. Shah is also expected to hold a series of meetings of party leaders across the state.

Opposition leader Siddaramaiah will head 28 public rallies and D.K.Shivakumar will take part in 19 programmes. Taking lead will be former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy of JD(S) who will be seen in a whopping 50 to 60 events across the state.

Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi are set to take part in 10-15 rallies, public interaction and roadshow campaigns.

BJP has planned a mega roadshow by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress is organising a massive roadshow to counter PM Modi's outreach.

Former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, who has not yet visited his Channapetna and Ramanagar from where his son is contesting, will make it up by hold mega programmes.

Starting Friday, Prime Minister Modi will be camping in the state for the next three days to take up the final round of campaigning.

He will address back to back public rallies in Ballary of north Karnataka, Tumakuru in south on Friday. He will hold four public rallies on Sunday in Badami, Haveri of north Karnataka, Shivamogga and Nanjangud (Mysuru) in south districts.

The Prime Minister will hold a mega roadshow on Saturday. The roadshow will go through 18 Assembly constituencies with the participation of more than 10 lakh people. The roadshow 'Namma Karnataka Yatra' will pass through 36.6 kilometers. between 11 a.m and 10 p.m with breaks.

To counter PM Modi's mega campaign, the Congress has planned a massive roadshow by Rahul Gandhi on May 7. The details are being worked out to match up to the scale of PM Modi's roadshows.