KPCC president G Parameshwara has found very little time to campaign at Koratagere. He has spent hardly seven days in his constituency since the polls were announced and has left all campaigning to his very articulate wife, Kannika.
“If Parameshwara wins this time, it will be because of his wife,’’ says a supporter at Koratagere, who does not want to be named. Another voter, a woman at Katenahalli, is even more explicit: “Why can’t Kannika be our MLA instead of Parameshwara? She is accessible and she really listens to us!’’
Kannika, 60, a post-graduate from Bangalore’s Mount Carmel College, has earned the admiration of party workers and voters by going door to door in the blazing sun, without even a cap. She has covered at least half the villages in the constituency and even visited homes of those known to be hostile to her husband.
“At Kora hobli, where Parameshwara got a lead last time, all locals complained to her that they had not got benefits. She immediately promised to take personal interest and adopt Kora hobli as her own. People are really impressed with her,’’ a party worker told Express.
Parameshwara is the beneficiary of all this effort. Even on Friday, the last day for public campaigning, all he did was supervise the work done by his supporters. Starting from the self-same Kora hobli, he met key leaders at their houses.
At Tovinakere, in ZP member T D Prasannakumar’s house, he took a break to have his lunch of ragi mudde and soppina saru. Unmindful of the vociferous JD(S) campaign just outside, blaring out high-decibel speeches, Parameshwara shared with Express his vision for Karnataka, if he becomes the chief minister. “Since the country’s economy is still agrarian, we need to tap the potential to generate jobs in the same sector by ensuring irrigation facilities to farmers. This is my priority besides clean administration.”
Other than Kannika’s efforts, it is the prospect of electing the future CM which is bolstering Parameshwara’s chances of winning Sunday’s polls. The polished Dalit leader, who did his PhD from an Australian University, said he deserved to be the CM. “I have travelled across the globe. Given my exposure...I can deliver the goods,” he said.
It does seem to be a unifying factor. Leaders from different parties have extended support to Parameshwara. And as Sunday approaches, these numbers are increasing exponentially.