The election campaign in Karnataka has shifted gears with Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing a rally in Bengaluru, on Sunday, 4 February.
Even though he was in the state capital for less than two hours, the crowd response evinced Modi’s appeal as a crowd-pleaser, at least in the urban parts of the state.
Modi was careful to appeal to the language sentiments of the state through his speech, this time without any liberal peppering of his trademark ‘Mitron’. He ensured that his Kannada speech cameo was not limited to a simple greeting, and stretched to full sentences instead – both at the beginning and end of his speech – to make an impact.
Over one lakh party supporters at Bengaluru’s palace grounds came to see the prime minister, chanting his name and demanding him to begin his speech while other state leaders’ speeches, including Yeddyurappa’s, took a backseat for the day.
While Modi pledged his support to Karnataka’s farmers and promised ease of travel to commuters, he steered clear of certain pertinent issues at his first rally in poll-bound Karnataka.