Karnataka elections: Modi to address 16 rallies in 8 days

For those who were wondering why they had not seen much of Narendra Modi in the Karnataka assembly election campaign, here is some news for you. The Prime Minister is set to address 16 rallies starting April 29.

The star campaigner for the BJP, Modi would address at least 16 rallies in 8 days. The rallies would begin at Kolar. He would also address a rally at Raichur on the same day.

The BJP has decided to combine the rallies by Modi and the strategising of the elections by party president Amit Shah. The BJP's national president, Shah has made several visits to the state and has been micro-managing the elections.

Modi during his visits would cover every nook and corner of the state. The party says that his rallies have had huge responses even on Sundays. His rallies at Bengaluru and Mysuru have been big hits, the BJP also says.

During the Uttar Pradesh elections, Modi had addressed 24 rallies while his highest still remain in Bihar where it was 31.

Karnataka has dedicated vote banks and the voting pattern has been more or less the same. The BJP feels that it needs to cut into the Congress vote bank and only Modi is capable of doing so. On an individual note, Modi still remains extremely popular in Karnataka and the BJP would like to bank heavily on that. The BJP realises that a one or two per cent vote swing can decide the fate of the elections. Shah has been pushing the Karnataka BJP to toil at the booth level. The party feels that with more of Modi and Shah's booth level engineering, the BJP could bag that crucial one per cent swing which will help it form the government in Karnataka.