Krishna, Deve Gowda use TV channels to slug it out

By Afshan Yasmeen

BANGALORE, NOV. 10. The clash of egos between the Chief Minister, Mr. S.M.Krishna, and the former Prime Minister, Mr. H.D.Deve Gowda, has come to the fore on the eve of the elections to the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) Council. And Friday saw the two leaders waging a ``high-tech war'' in their effort to woo voters.

From Friday night, two private Kannada television channels -- ETV Kannada and Udaya TV -- have been airing a one-minute advertisement with the Chief Minister listing out the achievements of the Congress, both in the State and in the BMP Council. The advertisement ends with a fervent appeal that voters elect Congress candidates for a ``clean and beautiful'' Bangalore.

Realising the import of the advertisement, the Janata Dal (S) responded to it as quickly it could. According to sources, on Saturday morning, the ``son of the soil,'' himself rushed to the TV channels offices and got them to shoot an equally long capsule to be aired between serials and news bulletins.

In this capsule, Mr. Gowda criticises the Congress Government. He accuses it of taking away all the credit for development works planned and begun by his (Janata Dal) Government.

``The Congress Government is frustrated. It has a habit of making only false promises. All the allocations made by the Congress Government is only on paper. Don't be fooled by their loud announcements. You are better judges. Please think twice before you cast your vote. Elect JD (S) candidates for the welfare of Bangaloreans,'' the capsule states.

The background in Mr. Krishna's appeal shows slides of ``Swachha Bangalore,'' ``Nirmala Bangalore,'' ``Hasiru Bangalore,'' the Bangalore Agenda Task Force (BATF) and its achievements, inauguration of the Mehkri Circle Grade Separator, the Richmond Circle Flyover, and the developments in information technology.

In Mr. Gowda's attack on the Congress Government, there are slides of his padayatra, dharnas, Raj Bhavan chalo, and tractor procession in the background.

It may be noted that Mr. Krishna did not campaign for Congress candidates. Besides using the electronic media to appeal for votes, he sent individual ``appeal letters'' (signed by him) to voters on Saturday.

The Chief Minister's absence from campaigning has reportedly disappointed Congress candidates who were banking on his charisma to woo voters.

In fact, Mr. Krishna's absence from campaigning has raised many doubts, especially since the Union ministers, Mr. Venkaiah Naidu, Mr. Ananth Kumar, Mr. Dhananjaya Kumar, and Mr. V.Srinivas Prasad, apart from Mr. Gowda campaigned for their candidates.

Even political leaders from Tamil Nadu, including the DMK leader and Chennai Mayor, Mr. M.K.Stalin, and Tamil Nadu Congress President, Mr. E. Elangovan, were in Bangalore to campaign for their party candidates.

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