Karnataka election 2018: Congress president Rahul Gandhi will kickoff the third phase of the party’s campaign in poll-bound Karnataka on March 20 and 21. He will address many rallies and corner meetings in the coastal and Mysore region of the southern state in this phase, a party official said. Congress had launched the party poll campaign in the state on February 10, with the party chief covering six districts starting from Hosapete in Bellari, in the previous two phases of the campaign. “Rahul Gandhi will launch the third phase of his Karnataka campaign on March 20 and 21, wherein he would address corner meetings and poll rallies in the Mysore and coastal regions,” AICC general secretary in-charge of the state, K C Venugopal told PTI.
He said that the party was comfortably placed and would again form the government in the state. Gandhi had undertaken the ‘Janaashirvad Yatra’ in the state by travelling to various regions. He had concluded the second phase of the Yatra on February 26. “The second phase of our Jana Aashirwada Yatra in Karnataka ended yesterday. I want to thank the people of Karnataka for their warmth and affection and our Congress workers for working tirelessly to make it a resounding success. I appreciate each and every one of you,” Gandhi had tweeted a day after the second phase of the poll campaign ended.
The tenure of the current assembly ends on May 28. The Congress is putting all its might to retain its government in Karnataka, which is among the four states ruled by the grand old party. The BJP, however, is seeking to oust the Congress from the southern state and is banking upon its old warhorse and former chief minister Y S Yeddyurappa, whom it has presented as its face for the Karnataka elections.
The Congress has been losing one state after another to the BJP in the past few years. After the saffron party’s victory in Tripura yesterday, a total of 21 states are under the BJP kitty. The BJP is also set to be a part of the coalition government in Nagaland and Meghalaya.
