On I-Day, Congress, BJP canvass hard, snipe at each other

Canvassing for the BBMP elections picked up pace on Saturday — a public holiday — with prominent leaders of the Congress and the BJP and film actors associated with them hitting the campaign trail.

Congress leaders, including Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his ministerial colleagues, sweated it out to woo the voters. The chief minister canvassed for votes in the Chickpet Assembly constituency in the evening, notwithstanding a busy schedule on account of the Independence Day.

The Congress party’s election campaign is being managed by ministers in all of the 28 Assembly constituencies in BBMP limits. The ruling establishment is planning to step up its campaign in the coming days by roping in film actors. Telugu film star and former Union minister Chiranjeevi and actor Khushboo, who is also a Congress spokesperson, are likely to canvas for the party by conducting roadshows. Kannada actors such as Ambareesh and Jayamala will join them.

Kannada actors Tara, Rakshita and Shruti campaigned for the BJP in Gandhinagar and Padmanabanagar while the party’s MLAs undertook ‘padayatras’ with the respective candidates. The BJP is planning to unleash a high-decibel campaign in the coming days. Union ministers H N Ananth Kumar and D V Sadananda Gowda, who represent Bengaluru South and Bengaluru North respectively in Parliament, are poised to hit the campaign trail on Sunday.

Smart City miss
The Congress and the BJP continue to indulge in a blame game over Bengaluru missing the Smart City project. The Congress said the BJP’s “misrule” in the BBMP was to be blamed while the BJP claimed that the State government had “deliberately excluded Bengaluru from the list. The ruling Congress has made irregularities and scams in the BBMP in the last five years a big election issue. The JD(S), however, is conducting door-to-door campaigns without much fanfare.

Polling is scheduled for August 22 and canvassing is to end 48 hours before, on August 20. Votes will be counted on August 25.