Karnataka - Gulbarga   

Major parties straining every nerve to bag Gulbarga South

Appeal for support:Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa addressing a street-corner meeting at Tarfail slum, in Gulbarga on Wednesday, seeking votes for BJP candidate Shashil G. Namoshi in the Assembly byelection from the Gulbarga South constituency.

GULBARGA: As time flies before the crucial Assembly byelection from the Gulbarga South constituency on September 13, the campaign spree by the three major parties reached a crescendo in the constituency that is a mix of both urban and rural voters.

As the going appeared to be tough for the BJP, which has been fighting to retain its seat, Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, who is the star campaigner, has decided to spend the next three days till September 10 in Gulbarga city, to campaign for the party candidate Shashil G. Namoshi.

The presence of Aruna Chandrashekhar Patil of the Janata Dal (S) and the Congress's decision to field Ajay Singh, son of former Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh, has made matters worse for the BJP.

Stronghold

It has to now pool in all its resources to fight in the constituency which is considered a stronghold of the saffron party.

The Congress continued to maintain a tempo in the campaign by drafting senior party leaders, including former Chief Minister S. Bangarappa, former Union Minister C.K. Jaffer Sharief, former Speaker Ramesh Kumar, legislators Dinesh Gundu Rao, Raheem Khan and actor Umashree. It has organised street-corner meetings in different localities and the response of the general public has been overwhelming.

The Janata Dal (S) campaign was led by former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda who visited the Methodist Church in the city and offered prayers. The church father blessed Mr. Gowda and offered him a Bible.

Later, Mr. Gowda addressed two public meetings before leaving for Kadur in a helicopter. Working president of the State unit of the party P.G.R Sindhia, party legislators Bandappa Kashempur and Abdul Azeem were camping in the city as well.

On the first day of his three-day tour, Mr. Yeddyurappa visited the thickly-populated Tarfail slum, dominated by Dalits.

During the tour, Mr. Yeddyurappa said he regretted the police lathi-charge on the people of the slum a few months ago. On the demand for withdrawal of cases booked against the residents, the Chief Minister promised he would look into the demand.

Later, Mr. Yeddyurappa addressed street-corner meetings at CIB colony, another Dalit-dominated locality and the Jayanagar colony in the city.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

BJP employing money power to win byelections: Gowda
Major parties straining every nerve to bag Gulbarga South
Yeddyurappa asks critics to prove charge on use of money to get support
‘SC's right to speak on policy matters is sacrosanct'

Copyright © 2010, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu