Rahul Gandhi, Amit Shah visits push Karnataka into poll mode
TUMAKURU/BENGALURU: When Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah of BJP arrive in Karnataka in quick succession to pay tributes to Sri Shivakumar Swamiji at Siddaganga Mutt in Tumakuru on Thursday and Friday, it will be a sign that the campaigning for the state Assembly polls in 2023 has been formally launched Interestingly, no national leader had come when the Swamiji passed away on January 21, 2019 as they had just sent condolence messages. The line-up of top leaders now is a clear indication that they want to appease the majority community in the state ahead of the polls.
Rahul will visit the mutt at 4 pm on Thursday and spend an hour. Shah will arrive at 10.55 am on Friday and take part in a two-hour-long event addressing a gathering of two lakh people. Shah’s visit was pre-scheduled and he will fly to Tumakuru, while Rahul’s visit was reportedly fixed in a hurry and he will travel by road. The roads leading to the mutt have been decked up with BJP’s publicity material, while Rahul’s posters appear here and there.
Former CM BS Yediyurappa’s son BY Vijayendra, who is the reception committee chief of Shah’s event, is supervising arrangements. With Yediyurappa chairing the event and Vijayendra expected to deliver the introductory remarks, the event is expected to send a clear message that the platform is to launch Vijayendra as the successor to Yediyurappa as the Lingayat leader.
AICC general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala, Lingayat community leaders -- KPCC campaign committee chairman MB Patil and working president Eshwar Khandre -- visited the mutt on Wednesday to oversee preparations. The visit of two VVIPs has also kept the police busy. Central Range IGP Chandrashekar has already camped in Tumakuru.
Rahul’s itinerary
To arrive in Bengaluru on Thursday and visit Siddaganga Mutt to pay his tributes to Sri Shiva-kumara Swamiji at 4 pm
Return to Bengaluru and stay overnight
Attend Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee exe-cutive meeting at 11 am on Friday and meet organ-isation leaders at 2 pm
May interact with party workers involved in digital membership drive through video-conference