Why an election in a medium-sized state was inflated into a national vote

The BJP's promise to write off agricultural loans of Rs 100,000 if elected to power has gone down well with the farmers of the drought-affected areas.

On May 4, when Pralhad Joshi, the Dharwad-Hubbali  MP, addressed Hubbali's opinion-moulders at the Kanakadasa College, the burden of his speech was that the Karnataka verdict was not "just another" assembly poll but a vote for the Narendra Modi government. Joshi used the conflict-ridden zones of West Bengal, Assam, Chhattisgarh and Jammu and Kashmir as leitmotifs to illustrate the point that since Independence, India has not had a "stronger and more decisive" dispensation than that headed by Prime Minister Modi.

"It's not just an election to vote Jagadish Shettar (who's seeking a fifth term from Hubbali-Dharwad Central). This Karnataka election