It is just not candidates who are in the heat of things. The foot soldiers campaigning for them too are sweating it out — literally.
Though the mercury level soared up to 35 degrees Celsius on Thursday and the forecast predicted a high 40 degrees Celsius, there was no respite for the rank and file in parties. Congress candidate for Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha B Janardhan Poojary’s close aide Harikrishna Bantwal said as heatwave-like conditions had prevailed during the day, even at places like Machhina, which has good forest cover, they were totally drenched in sweat within an hour of making door-to-door visits.
BJP workers, who have been campaigning for sitting MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, said despite consuming water, beverages and curds, their thirst remained unquenched. Therefore, door-to-door visits were generally abandoned after lunch and resumed only in the evening when a faint breeze offered some respite.
Party workers also complained that most voters were found to be short of patience because of the rising mercury. As soon as party pamphlets given to voters during door-to-door visit, many of them, housewives in particular, took the workers to task. “The inflation has hit middle-income families and they take us to task for not providing any facilities to those owning APL cards,” a Congress party worker rued. Even BJP workers were at the receiving end of voters’ ire. “At Beltangady, the voters were fed up with frequent load-shedding and gave a tongue-lashing to all those who landed at their door-step seeking votes,” said a BJP worker.