Ho-hum campaigning in Mangalore

She came, she spoke, but apparently, she did not conquer. Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi’s campaigning in Mangalore saw about 20,000 people in attendance, half of the turn-out registered in her September 2012 visit to the coastal town.

Then, the crowd mostly comprised of middle-aged people. Only about a tenth of those present were youth. Again, most of them belonged to youth Congress. Congress leaders in the coastal region are now a worried lot. They gave an excuse that it was the scorching heat that kept people from Gandhi’s event.

Gandhi is the only national leader to have visited Mangalore for campaigning. The BJP’s national leaders who have campaigned in the state recently—Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Varun Gandhi—did not campaign in Mangalore. Their visit was restricted to a press conference or closed-door party meeting in the Sangh pariwar’s southern command office, Sanghaniketan.

BJP leader Captain Ganesh Karnik said he did not understand why the party’s star campaigners did not touch Mangalore. He hoped some last-minute programmes have been lined up.

BJP leaders in charge of campaigning said if Advani did not come to Mangalore, it was because he campaigned in North Karnataka centres and the spirit of his speech did trickle down to the coast. There is also no news if Narendra Modi will campaign in the region.

Responding to a question about it, former chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda said: “All in good time.”

Ramdas Nayak, a political analyst in the region, said the BJP would do only subdued campaigning till the end of April and would go full throttle from May 1 to May 3. He said the party is waiting for the Congress to empty its arsenal before the BJP starts its fireworks.