Parties getting into election mode in Karnataka

Political parties have got into the poll mode in Karnataka, with the ruling Congress short-listing candidates for all 28 Lok Sabha seats, and BJP and JDS in the process of fine-tuning their strategy.
Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee today held a meeting of its office-bearers, who discussed party strategy for the polls.
KPCC President G Parameshwara later said three names, and additional two for some constituencies, have been finalised for each segment.
Congress had put up a poor show in the 2009 elections, winning only six seats, the then ruling BJP in the state getting 19, and the JDS of former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda securing three seats.

Things, however, have changed since then, with Congress coming back to power at the state in May this year after a landslide victory, replacing BJP whose tenure was marked by infighting and alleged scams.
Congress, on a high after wresting two seats -- Mandya and Bangalore Rural -- from the JD(S) in the Lok Sabha bypolls recently, has indicated that the aim is to win at least 20 Lok Sabha seats this time.

"It was decided to propagate pro-people legislations like food security, land acquisition Acts and RTI, and hold executive committee meetings of the party at district level to prepare the party for the polls," Parameshwara said.

JDS this week appointed A Krishnappa, a backward classes leader, as state unit president, in an apparent move to shed its tag of being dubbed as "a party of Vokkaligas".
The party, led by Deve Gowda, counts Vokkaligas as its main vote-base, and it has chosen to reach out to backward classes after electoral drubbing that led to former Chief Minister and Gowda's son H D Kumaraswamy quitting the state unit chief post.
A poll-battered BJP is looking up to the party's Prime Ministerial candidate and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to revive its fortunes in the state, where political heavyweight B S Yeddyurappa's return to the party's fold now appears a strong possibility.

Yeddyurappa, who quit BJP in December last year and floated his regional outfit Karnataka Janatha Paksha, has already said he would throw his weight behind the NDA.
Yeddyurappa has also said a decision on the merger with BJP would be taken at a meeting of senior KJP leaders next week.