Winning the electoral contest in the southern state of Karnataka is key to the revival of its image as the main opposition player against the saffron party for the Indian National Congress.  A win in Karnataka will give the Congress a boost of sorts to take on the BJP later this year in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.

During the election campaign in Karnataka run by its state leaders, the grand old party focussed on local issues.. This poll is also a prestige battle in a way for the party with a Kannadiga Mallikarjun Kharge, who hails from Kalaburagi district.

Though the campaign initially centered around its state leaders like Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, Kharge gave it momentum and thereby prepared the pitch for the party’s top leaders Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi to join in. Their mother and former AICC president Sonia Gandhi addressed a party rally in Hubballi on Saturday.

The party held 99 public meetings and 33 roadshows by its top state and central leaders. The Congress has set a target of winning 150 seats, and has been urging voters to ensure that it gets an absolute majority, so that BJP doesn’t “steal” the mandate by managing defections of other party legislators and “manufacture” a majority in its favour. The Congress’s main issues to attack the BJP government in this election were over corruption/ scams and the charge of 40 per cent commission, coupled with the Adani issue.

The Congress’ has promised to implement ‘guarantees’ – 200 units of free power to all households (Gruha Jyoti), Rs.2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family (Gruha Lakshmi), 10 kg of rice free to every member of a BPL household (Anna Bhagya), Rs.3,000 every month for graduate youth and Rs.1,500 for diploma holders (both in the age group of 18-25) for two years (YuvaNidhi), and free travel for women in public transport buses (Shakti), on the very first day, on coming to power in the state.

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Just seven months before the Tamil Nadu legislative elections, Tamil Superstar Rajinikanth has hinted that he is planning to stay away from politics due to health issues. Rajinikanth clarified his current plans, after a letter purportedly written by him went viral on the online spaces.

In his recent statement, the actor revealed that the letter that went viral was not written by him, but he made it clear that detail about his health conditions mentioned in the letter is true.

According to reports, doctors have apparently advised Rajinikanth to stay away from political campaigns due to his deteriorating health. It should be noted that Rajinikanth is already facing renal issues, and during the time of this coronavirus pandemic, it will be risky to conduct public campaigns.

Earlier, fans of Rajinikanth had strongly believed that the superstar will participate in the upcoming polls in Tamil Nadu. However, Rajinikanth’s recent remarks have apparently disappointed them, and in all probabilities, he may not be available for public campaigns, as the pandemic is showing no signs of slowing down.

Rajinikanth is currently awaiting the release of Annaatthe, directed by Siva. The film is expected to be an in and out commercial entertainer, and it stars Meena, Nayanthara, Keerthy Suresh and Prakash Raj in other prominent roles.

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