Congress to launch campaign in Davanagere

BENGALURU/ DAVANGERE: The Congress will virtually sound the election bugle for the gram panchayat polls on May 29 and June 2 at its mega event in Davanagere on Saturday to mark two years of governance under chief minister Siddaramaiah.
The downpour late Friday evening was a dampener to the arrangements, though. Rain water flooded the streets of Davanagere and flexes, cutouts and banners came crashing down due to the strong wind.
Though the state unit was looking forward to the presence of Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi considering Karnataka is the last bastion of the party, both are not coming for the event. The dais will be shared by Siddaramaiah's baiters like Mallikarjun M Kharge, M Veerappa Moily, besides KPCC president G Parameshwara. AICC general secretary Karnataka in-charge Digvijay Singh is also not coming as he has a wedding in the family next week.
Setting aside all differences, the event is expected to focus on highlighting the Congress government's programmes. Siddaramaiah said of the 165 poll promises made in 2013, over 100 have been implemented. The CM is not likely to announce new programmes as the poll code for the GP elections is in force.
For the past three days, Congress leaders have pitched camp here to oversee the arrangements for the 2 lakh persons expected to attend the event at the Bapuji MBA College grounds. Congress sources said Davanagere was chosen for its emotional connect with the people of the state. "Siddaramaiah addressed an election rally here in 2013 and urged people to vote for the Congress. The city is a central point for all to converge from various parts of the state and it has a large number of Lingayats who the Congress is trying to woo. We would have caused a traffic jam in Bengaluru and earned the wrath of people at a time when we're gearing up for BBMP polls,'' they said.