For Karnataka polls BJP to fly in its star campaigners, including Modi
Bengaluru, April 24: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will fly in some 40 "star campaigners" to poll-bound Karnataka including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a host of Union Ministers and senior leaders to campaign for the party's success in the ensuing May 12 assembly elections.
The visiting key campaigners were named in a letter written by the state unit BJP general secretary and party's Lok Sabha lawmaker from Karnataka Shobha Karandlaje to the state Chief Electoral Officer Sanjiv Kumar.
Besides Modi and BJP national President Amit Shah, Union Ministers Sushma Swaraj (External Affairs), Smriti Irani (Information and Broadcasting), Nirmala Sitharaman (Defence), Ravi Shankar Prasad (Law and Justice), Piyush Goyal (Railways) and party's Lok Sabha MP and veteran actress Hema Malini will soon be in the southern state.
"The Prime Minister is expected to visit the state tentatively from May 1 and is expected to hold at least 10-12 rallies across the state before the election," BJP state spokesman S. Shantharam told IANS here.
Modi is expected to visit each of the state's four regions -- coastal, north, central and south -- besides Bengaluru and Mysuru, addressing two-to-three rallies a day till May 10.
The exact dates of the BJP leaders' visits to the state were yet to be finalised, the spokesperson added.
Some of the other campaigners include party's women's wing national in-charge D. Purandareswari, former Union Minister for External Affairs S.M. Krishna, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan among others.
The party's chief ministerial candidate B.S. Yeddyurappa, Union Ministers from the state Ananth Kumar (Chemicals and Fertilisers), Prakash Javadekar (Human Resource Development) and Anantkumar Hegde (Skill Development) will also be taking part in the campaigning activities.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, also one of the party's campaigners, on Monday visited the state's coastal districts of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath has visited the state at least four times so far, to address rallies in Hubballi, Bengaluru, Davanagere and Mangaluru.
On April 21, MP Chief Minister Chouhan visited the state's Chitradurga district, about 250km north from here, to campaign along with the BJP Lok Sabha lawmaker B. Sreeramulu, who is contesting the assembly elections from Molakamuru (reserved) seat in the district.
Polling will be held in a single phase on May 12 for 224 assembly seats, including 36 reserved for the Scheduled Castes and 15 for the Scheduled Tribes. Votes will be counted on May 15.
Tuesday is the last date for filing nominations. Scrutiny will be done on April 25 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is April 27.
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Australia add Steve Smith as replacement for Hazlewood in T20 World Cup squad
Pallekele (PTI): Senior Australia batter Steve Smith was on Monday approved as replacement for the injured pacer Josh Hazlewood, hours before his side's must-win T20 World Cup match against Sri Lanka here.
Smith thus becomes the 15th member of the injury-hit Australia squad.
"Smith is named as a replacement for Hazlewood, who is now officially ruled out from participating in the tournament due to a calf injury. The team’s medical staff had hoped to have him fit in time to feature in the latter parts of the tournament but were unsuccessful," the ICC said in statement.
Smith had earlier been flown to Sri Lanka as cover for skipper Mitchell Marsh, who missed Australia's opening two matches due to a testicular injury.
The veteran batter trained with the squad on Sunday and is in contention to feature in the crucial clash.
Smith has not played a T20I since February last year but has been in good form in the format in domestic competitions.
In positive signs for the 2021 champions, Marsh too has returned to training. The skipper batted in the nets while also taking part in running and fielding drills on Sunday.
Australia’s World Cup campaign is hanging in the balance following their 23-run defeat to Zimbabwe, and they must beat Sri Lanka on Monday to avoid an early exit.
