Can Bommai’s flashy ad blitzkrieg win this poll?

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru: Will the ongoing ‘Jan Sankalp’ Yatra undertaken by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai or the mantra of deveopment being chanted by the CM wherever he goes, be enough to take the BJP to power again in the state?

Not many believe so. Ironically, the campaign undertaken by the BJP has an uncanny resemblence to the BJP-led NDA’s ‘India Shining’ campaign of 2004 which however proved to be a faiure despite the flashy ad blitzkrieg with the BJP losing the general eections held that year. The party has been focusing on campaigns on walls of both private and public buildings claiming that the BJP is the only hope for a ‘Better Karnataka’.

The Congress on the other hand, has been focusing on the faults of the Bommai government including the 40 percent commission charge by putting up posters highlighting administrative inefficiency and has also launched a ‘Flower on ear’ campaign to convince peope that the promises made by the ruling party ring hollow.

The last 8-10 surveys conducted by various agencies at the behest of state and national BJP units show no improvement in the likely tally of the party and so the saffron party has decided to go a campaign similar to the ‘India Shining’ campaign to prove that Karnataka is ‘shining,’ said sources. The Congress Party has also built a young and intelligent team to handle social media issues which has been creating wonders leaving the BJP wiht no chance to counter it.

A similar situation was faced by the Congress Party in 2018 when the BJP’s social media cell ripped apart the then ruling party’s poll campaign and restricted it to just 70 seats from the 120 plus seats it won in the 2013 Assembly polls. Sources say the series of scams, commission charges, inept handling of several issues, and indifference of certain ministers are likely to go against the saffron party.

The alleged involvement of BJP workers or leaders in scams, the misbehavior of BJP MLAs in public, and the stoic silence of the CM to the corruption charges against his government could prove disastrous for the incumbent government. It now remains to be seen if the flashy ad blitzkrieg the party has launched will have the needed impact on voters. And as the days progress, the poster and grafiti war betwen the two parties is sure to grow more bitter.