Karnataka polls: ad war in the run-up to polling

POLL BATTLE: Kannadigas woke up Thursday morning to a personalised letter by Vajpayee.

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Hoardings, cut-outs, buntings, banners, posters, caps, T-shirts are all missing in most parts of the city.

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• Bangalore cold to election fever, relieved too

Keywords: assembly elections 2008, karnataka

Bangalore: It's the last day of campaigning for the first phase of polls in Karnataka and the state is seeing an ad war in the run-up to polling.

“Who has the best interest of people at heart? Who is genuinely concerned about development? Who wants to rule by hook or crook? Who wants to unite societies? Who wants to divide societies?” asks Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The war of contrasts starts right at the top - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's impassioned plea to the Karnataka voter added on to the aggressive campaigning by political parties, as campaigning came to an end for the first phase of polling on Saturday.

Kannadigas woke up Thursday morning to a personalised letter by BJP strongman Atal Bihari Vajpayee. And through the last week, there have been many allegations, counter-allegations in the ad blitzkrieg that Karnataka has been seeing.

AICC General Secretary B K Hariprasad says, “Thanks to Election Commission, who are not allowing us to do any other form or publicity. So this is the only way to reach the people.”

The BJP has been working on TV commercials, with Sushma Swaraj speaking in Kannada. Besides, the saffron party has done a daily dose of cong-bashing everyday the last month.

BJP national General Secretary Ananth Kumar says, “Last 61 years city has been governed by Congress and it's an urban chaos. BJP is yet to get a chance to serve the people.”

The JD(S) hasn't even printed posters and buntings, instead preferring the Kannada media.

An ad for an ad, a counter-ad for a counter-ad. Well, the good thing about this kind of a publicity campaign is that voters have documentary proof of every election promise by every political party.

So now, you won't have to worry about netas forgetting their speeches full of promises once they're elected.