BENGALURU: Unlike other electoral battlegrounds, Karnataka’s high-stakes race has literally brought the political czars to the ground. Both Rahul Gandhi and Amit Shah will be the first party presidents of the two national parties to cover all 30 districts of the state for the assembly polls.
Usually, the national chiefs of the Congress and the BJP have been known to drive poll strategies from their boardrooms, but in Karnataka they have turned into road-warriors, said a few political trackers. Rahul and Shah are leading from the front in one of the most unpredictable poll battles ever since campaigning intensified.
Sources in the Congress said Rahul has created a record of sorts in the state’s political circuit by becoming the first AICC president to have travelled over 3,500km while touring 30 districts. He is said to have visited around two dozen temples and mutts in the state and even participated in a roadshow on the 400-km stretch between Ballari and Kalaburagi in severe heat.
During the campaign in Karnataka, Rahul has broken several stereotypes associated with the Congress high command. From allowing chief minister Siddaramaiah to occupy the centrestage to visiting temples and mutts and hugging pourakarmikas, Rahul has played his cards well to create an impression that he is ‘down to earth’. He tried to connect with the common man by buying slices of cucumber from a roadside vendor, stopping his convoy to bless a little kid, standing in the queue at the Metro ticket counter and obliging requests from fellow passengers for selfies and beating fatigue with chai from makeshift shops.
He has also committed gaffes with regard to Basavanna’s quotes and pronouncing Visvesvaraya’s name, but refused to be saddled by them.
