Bangalore, April 14
There is not going to be any “Modi vs Rahul showdown” in Karnataka ahead of the May 5 Assembly elections. While it was hoped that Karnataka will provide the ground for the Prime Ministerial candidates of two opposing camps to test their respective charisma, neither Modi nor Rahul seem to be interested in such a contest before the main battle (read Lok Sabha elections).

The Gandhi scion, even though the Congress prospect is bright in Karnataka, is apparently not too keen on taking advantage of the favourable wind blowing in Karnataka. He will campaign in Karnataka for three days only.

KPCC chief G Parameshwara today told reporters here that Rahul Gandhi would campaign on April 23 in Bellary, Raichur and Bijapur, on April 28 in Kolar, Tumkur and Haveri and on May 1 in Mysore, Hassan and Shimoga.

This in contrast to what Rahul did in UP where he had extensively campaigned for the Assembly elections. Compared to UP he worked less hard for the Gujarat elections held in December last year. But it was still more than what he was planning to devote for Karnataka.

Rahul’s low profile presence in Karnataka, apparently, is to avoid shifting the focus of the electorate to the national issues. The Congress believes that there is plenty of ammunition available locally against the ruling BJP in the state and it is electorally prudent to confine itself to the local issues.

BJP spokesperson Prakash, however, pooh-poohed the theory about local issues and said Rahul was not showing much interest in Karnataka because he did not want to cut a sorry figure in Karnataka after miserably failing in UP and Gujarat.

In the absence of Central leaders, Congress party’s first election rally in Bangalore yesterday was addressed only by local leaders. As it is usually the case with the Congress, some of the disgruntled leaders did not attend the meeting.

Narendra Modi, BJP’s poster boy, too, is keeping away from Karnataka. Apparently, he does not want to associate himself too much with campaigning in a state where the party is facing heavy anti-incumbency.