BENGALURU: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s presence in the Karnataka poll campaign so far is being seen as relatively low considering the significance of this battle which is expected to set the tone for the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
While BJP is sounding gung-ho about its mission of achieving ‘Congress Mukth Bharat” with its victory in Karnataka, rival Congress has billed it as the fight that could trigger the rejuvenation of the grand old party and to turn the tide against Modi in 2019.
Compared to Gujarat assembly election where he addressed a total of 34 rallies, Modi has so far addressed campaign rallies in Bengaluru, Mysuru and Davangere in Karnataka.
According to sources in BJP headquarters in New Delhi, Modi is likely to address more than 12 rallies and the number could go up to 20 in the next round of campaign in Karnataka. He is expected to address multiple rallies in a day as he did in Gujarat, where he had addressed up to four rallies in a single day in the last stretch of the campaign.
BJP national president Amit Shah’s visits too would be more frequent. However, Shah’s visits would have a wide mix of road shows, visits to religious and social institutions of significance, visits to families of martyrs and local icons in literature, art and culture, sources said.