BENGALURU: Prime Minister Narendra Modi would formally kickstart the BJP’s Lok Sabha election campaign in Karnataka on Saturday from Congress President M Mallikarjun Kharge’s home turf — Kalaburagi.He is scheduled to address a mega public meeting at Nutan Vidyalaya ground in the city at 2 p.m.Kharge, who had represented Kalaburagi (Gulbarga Lok Sabha segment) twice in the past, lost to BJP’s Umesh Jadhav by a margin of 95,452 votes in the 2019 general elections here — the octogenarian leader’s first electoral loss in his political life spanning several decades.BJP has once again fielded Jadhav from the segment for this year’s election.Speculations are rife that the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, who has the role of managing the party nationally and coordinating with the opposition INDIA bloc, may not contest the upcoming polls and, instead, the Congress is likely to field his son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani, a businessman, who also manages educational institutions.On March 18, Modi will be in Shivamogga, the home district of veteran BJP leader B S Yediyurappa, and is scheduled to address a huge public meeting there as well.Yediyurappa’s son B Y Raghavendra is the sitting MP from Shivamogga and has been re-nominated by the party.Yediyurappa’s other son B Y Vijayendra, who represents Shikaripura Assembly constituency in the district, is the state BJP President.
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