Udupi, March 17: Curtains came down on the two-week public campaigning for the by-election to the Lok Sabha from Udupi-Chikmagalur constituency at 5 p.m. on Friday.
All political parties put their best foot forward in the final days of the public campaigning. They did all they could to convey their message to voters through public meetings, door-to-door campaigning, 'padayatras', road-shows, and two-wheeler rallies.
The campaign was intense this time. The unending rounds of press conferences by all major political parties kept journalists on their toes.
The biggest surprise in the campaign turned out to be the sudden joining of the former Minister Manorama Madhwaraj to the BJP. No one in the media had a clue about it. But after her joining the party, Ms. Madhwaraj was nowhere to be seen in the campaign.
The JD(S) tried to improve its fortunes in the district by inducting the former Udupi MLA U.R. Sabhapathi into the party. The stage shook when the Congress launched its campaign for the by-poll, but mercifully did not come down.
Prominent leaders such as S.M. Krishna, K.H. Muniyappa, M. Veerappa Moily, G. Parameshwara, B. Janardhana Poojary, and Oscar Fernandes for the Congress, D.V. Sadananda Gowda, H.N. Ananth Kumar, K.S. Eshwarappa, R. Ashok, Shobha Karandlaje, S.A. Ramdas, and Govind Karjol for the Bharatiya Janata Party, and H.D. Deve Gowda and H.D. Kumaraswamy campaigned for the Janata Dal (Secular).
Actors added a touch of glamour to the campaign. They included Umashree, Bhavana, Ramya and Adi Lokesh who campaigned for the Congress, Tara and Srinath for the BJP, and Pooja Gandhi for JD(S).
Though the public campaigning has stopped, political parties will, however, do door-to-door campaigning on Saturday.
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