BJP’s gastronomic appeal for votes
Rallies, public addresses, door-to-door campaigns, street corner gatherings, block meetings are all the regular ways that political parties campaign. A BJP leader from Karnataka told this reporter that the party tried something novel in New Delhi. Considering the cosmopolitan nature of the national capital, the saffron party chose to impress potential voters with food native to their state. At a gathering of Kannadigas last week, the BJP chose to serve kosambari & panaka, two traditional dishes of Karnataka. We don’t know how much the dishes helped the party, but the people who had gathered there were all smiles -- at least, that’s what the BJP leader told us.
Ramesh back in the rebel plot?
Rebel Congress MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi -- who is perched on a rather merciless fence -- appears to be having a bad time. For one, he’s lost credibility and has become the laughing stock in state political circles. Sources in the Congress said that not a single MLA is ready to talk to Jarkiholi. His close friend and Athani MLA Mahesh Kumatalli also declined to join him. Yet, despite his repeated failure in getting disgruntled Congress MLAs to cross the floor, a section of BJP leaders met him in Bengaluru on Wednesday, nurturing a faint hope that he could still play Pied Piper and bring in at least five or six MLAs with him. The senior Jarkiholi had taken the state by storm earlier this year when he suddenly vanished, and surfaced in Mumbai, the epicentre of dissident activity. He had claimed to BJP leaders that he would herd 15 Congress MLAs into the resort where they were holed up, to topple the coalition government. An eager BJP reportedly spent about Rs 50 crore for Jarkiholi to lead Operation Lotus 2.0, and a great deal of time in parleys in Mumbai and New Delhi -- just to grab the Karnataka gaddi. But Op Lotus wilted, with only Umesh Jadhav jumping ship, and on his own terms. The question now is: What trick does Jarkiholi have up his sleeve?
Battling drought
On Wednesday, at the Chief Minister’s home office Krishna, a serious effort was on by the powers-that-be and officials to fight the spectre of drought across the state, and right outside, was an ironic visual -- a goods van parked in the high security zone, loaded with 20-litre water cans, to keep the drought combat team inside hydrated.