BENGALURU: Janata Dal (Secular) leaders H D Deve Gowda and H D Kumaraswamy are upping their game against the BJP and the Congress in the electoral battlefield in the state. Together, they set a target of campaigning in 100 segments in 14 days.
While central leaders of two national parties are lining up to campaign for their party candidates, the father-son duo will be going head to head with the likes of PM Narendra Modi-Amit Shah and Rahul Gandhi-Priyanaka Gandhi.
While Deve Gowda is touring some districts, Kumaraswamy is campaigning in other parts and they will with the electioneering till May 8.
While party patriarch Deve Gowda will campaign in 45-52 constituencies including Raichur, Vijayapur and Bidar districts, Kumaraswamy is targeting 50-55 constituencies. Both father and son have intensified their campaigning activities in Old Mysore region, which is the stronghold of JD(S), and organising public meetings.
Kumaraswamy, who is just out of hospital after a bout of fever, will conduct roadshows wherever possible, and will guide the candidates and party cadre on winning strategies.
During the campaign, the JD(S) may also look to capitalise on the removal of Muslims from the Other Backward Classes (OBC) quota to portray the BJP as anti-Muslim. Another strategy will be to highlight that the BJP is trying to consolidate Hindu votes by removing Muslim OBC reservation.
Besides this, JD(S) will also look to convince voters that the BJP has taken an anti-Constitutional step in reallocating reservation and claim that both the Congress and BJP are anti-Muslim. By highlighting that Deve Gowda has also given reservations for the Muslim community, the JD(S) will try to bag as much as Muslim votes as a pro-Muslim party.