Karnataka poll watch: Cong’s ‘Yeddyurappa for Dummies’ campaign, and other updates

In the run up to the biggest election of 2018, TNM brings you Poll Watch every Monday and Thursday.
Karnataka poll watch: Cong’s ‘Yeddyurappa for Dummies’ campaign, and other updates
Karnataka poll watch: Cong’s ‘Yeddyurappa for Dummies’ campaign, and other updates
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Assembly polls in Karnataka are just months away, and the current Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in the state will finish its full term of five years on May 28 – a feat no party has managed since 1985. But will the Congress manage to fight anti-incumbency in the one of the few states it governs in India following the Modi wave? Will the Yeddyurappa-led BJP pull off a win in the state under Amit Shah’s watchful eye? And will HD Kumaraswamy’s JD(S) get to a position where they can play kingmaker in Karnataka once again?

In the run up to the biggest election of 2018, TNM brings you Poll Watch every Monday and Thursday. It will be your one stop shop for all the updates on the campaigns, manifestos, and politicking ahead of the 2018 Karnataka Assembly elections.

Here are this week’s updates:

  • After BJP lost out in all three bye-polls held in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah attacked UP CM Yogi Adityanath on Twitter. “The BJP has suffered a humiliating loss in the Lok Sabha seats held by the CM and DyCM of UP… Perhaps Yogi Adityanath should spend less time lecturing Karnataka on development,” Siddaramaiah tweeted.
  • The CM’s reaction came in the wake of BJP’s strategy of gathering the ‘Hindu vote’ by fielding Yogi Adityanath as the star campaigner in the coastal districts of Karnataka.
  • On Monday, Shri Rama Sene Chief Pramod Muthalik and 30 others were acquitted in the controversial Mangaluru Pub Attack case of 2009. Soon after, Pramod Muthalik announced that he will be contesting the Assembly elections on a Shiv Sena ticket. The Shiv Sena is planning to contest from 52 constituencies across the state in the upcoming polls.
  • The Congress in Karnataka took to Twitter to counter BJP’s ‘Bengaluru Rakshisi’ campaign. The saffron party through this campaign has accused the Congress of indulging in rampant corruption.
  • On Wednesday, the Congress started a Twitter campaign titled ‘Yeddyurappa For Dummies’ to remind the voters of the massive illegal mining scam which had led to Yeddyurappa’s resignation as the CM in 2012.
  • “Mr Modi, know you are busy with foreign tours, so let us educate you about Yeddyurappa. 1. Did you know, Yeddyurappa was sent to prison for accepting bribes? He is well known for his role in illegal mining and land denotification scam. 2. Did you know, Yeddyurappa is known as ‘Golibar Yeddy’ for ordering police to open fire on protesting farmers? Yeddyurappa has also betrayed the farmers by lying about resolving the Mahadayi issue,” the Tweet reads.
  • Sources say that the Congress high command has asked Siddaramaiah and other leaders to take a step back from the issue of a separate Lingayat religion. Congress insiders say that the priority is to ensure that the party has a balance of both Lingayat and Vokkaliga faces for the upcoming polls.
  • Meanwhile, seven rebel JD(S) MLAs are planning to officially join the Congress. In retaliation, JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda has said that they would initiate legal proceeding against the rebels.

AAP has officially announced that it will contest from all 28 Assembly constituencies in Bengaluru Urban district.

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