PM to launch BJP poll campaign in Karnataka today with rally in Cong Prez Kharge's home turf
Bengaluru (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi would formally kickstart the BJP's Lok Sabha election campaign in Karnataka on Saturday from Congress President M Mallikarjun Kharge's home turf - Kalaburagi.
He is scheduled to address a mega public meeting at the district headquarters town's N V Ground at 2 pm.
Kharge, who had represented Kalaburagi (Gulbarga Lok Sabha segment) twice in the past, lost to BJP's Umesh Jadhav by a margin of 95,452 votes in the 2019 general elections here - the octogenarian leader's first electoral loss in his political life spanning several decades.
BJP has once again fielded Jadhav from the segment.
Speculations are rife that the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, who has the role of managing the party nationally and coordinating with the opposition INDIA bloc, may not contest the coming polls and, instead, the Congress is likely to field his son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani, a businessman, who also manages educational institutions.
On March 18, Modi will be in Shivamogga, the home district of veteran BJP leader B S Yediyurappa, and is scheduled to address a huge public meeting at 2 pm.
Yediyurappa's son B Y Raghavendra is the sitting MP from Shivamogga and has been re-nominated by the party. Yediyurappa's other son B Y Vijayendra, who represents Shikaripura Assembly constituency in the district, is the state BJP President.
The BJP has announced candidates for 20 seats in the State, which has a total of 28 constituencies.
After being ousted from power by the Congress in the 2023 Assembly polls, the BJP now is making a strong bid to regain the lost ground in Karnataka.
The BJP won 25 out of total 28 seats in the previous elections, and had ensured the win of a party supported independent candidate in Mandya. The then ruling Congress-JD(S) alliance had come a cropper winning just one seat each.
It is a role reversal of sorts for JD(S), which joined the NDA last September and has forged an electoral alliance with the BJP. The regional party is expected to contest in three seats - Mandya, Hassan and Kolar.
Sharing details of Modi's visit, state BJP General Secretary Sunil Kumar on Wednesday said BJP National President J P Nadda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath along with other leaders will visit different Lok Sabha constituencies for campaigning in the coming days.
Speaking about the party's poll preparations, he said: "We have divided 28 Lok Sabha constituencies into eight clusters for Lok Sabha elections. Keeping in view the local political and geographical background, programmes and strategies are being worked out in those eight clusters."
Several senior leaders including Shah and Nadda have already visited one of these clusters, Kumar said, adding, "workers' convention, well-wishers' contacts have been made and election preparations are on in all these eight clusters. In the second phase, large public meetings will be held."
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Delhi records high of 32.7 deg C; AQI remains 'moderate'
New Delhi (PTI): The maximum temperature in Delhi settled at 32.7 degrees Celsius on Sunday, 1.3 notches below the seasonal average, according to the India Meteorological Department.
The minimum temperature was recorded at 20.1 degrees Celsius on Sunday, 1.3 notches below the average for the season, while the relative humidity stood at 46 per cent at 5.30 pm, the IMD said.
The weather department has forecast a partly cloudy sky for Monday with the maximum and minimum temperatures expected to hover around 34 and 19 degrees Celsius, respectively.
The air quality remained 'moderate' at 4 pm, with an Air Quality Index (AQI) reading of 134, a slight drop from Saturday’s 137, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data showed.
According to the CPCB, an AQI between zero and 50 is considered 'good', 51 and 100 'satisfactory', 101 and 200 'moderate', 201 and 300 'poor', 301 and 400 'very poor', and 401 and 500 'severe'.
