- If and when BJP comes to power, they shud ban dog ownership. They are such a nuisance to campaigners.
- Campaigned for sitting MP Vijayashankar in Mysuru. If I were a voter there, its very unlikely that I would have voted for him. Such hypocrisy!
- A state minister asked us to not worry about the low turnout in Bangalore. He said something which I understood as "care has been taken to delete large number of Muslim names from the electoral rolls". And I campaigned for such people, hmm ...
- Met a fellow campaigner from the Merchant Navy. He comes from a family of sea-farers and has visited almost all the countries that have a coast. He had been to both the Arctic Tundra and Antarctica!
- According to him, while the whole world derided Bill Clinton for the Monica Lewinsky affair, Latin Americans were mighty impressed that he scored at 50+ years!
- Gave water and later fanta (?!) to the victims of a motor-bike accident near Attibelle. Called 108 for ambulance and sent them to the Sanjay Gandhi Hospital. I'm never sitting on a motor-bike again.
- Met a ABVP activist from Kasargod who lives in Bangalore. He and his fellow Sangh volunteers had sent 6 bus loads of Mangalore voters living in Bangalore to vote back home in Mangalore! No wonder BJP is confident of retaining that seat.
- He explained how he became student president in his Mangalore college. They had 4 voters in their Bangalore campus of which 2 were certain to vote against him. Voters needed verification letters from the department heads and had to be in Mangalore on the voting day. He spoke to the Sangh friendly dept head and ensured that the head was suitably late in giving letters to those 2 opposition voters. They couldn't reach Mangalore in time and were blissfully unaware that their Professor had gamed them.
- Went to some remote villages in the tri-junction of TN, KA and AP near Bagalur (north of Hosur). Seems half the farms here are owned by Jayalalitha. Her erstwhile Bargur constituency is nearby.
- How did I live for 5 years in Chennai? I don't think that place is fit for human habitation let alone election campaigning. Temperature there must have been about 600 degrees. And the people are so rude.
- Met one of my Aunts while campaigning in Besant Nagar! Luckily she hasn't called too many relatives to pass on the message. Atleast not yet.
- Went to some dumb Tamil movie with a Mumbaikar simply bcos we wanted some cool air in the afternoon campaign break. Left during intermission. Need to look up pics of that new heroine.
- I was organizing some people and the party had given me 1000 bucks for their lunch. But it cost only abt 500 since few went home for Lunch. In the evening I returned the money and the guy was surprised that I didn't keep it for myself. hmm ...
- And finally, I spoke to (or atleast introduced myself to) the following leaders: Karnataka BJP President Sadananda Gowda, Organization Secretary Santoshji (RSS man on deputation), TN BJP President Ila Ganesan, Karnataka Law Minister Suresh Kumar, Former Union Minster Dhananjay Kumar, Party candidates Janardhana Swamy (Chitradurga), P C Mohan (B'luru Central), Vijayashankar (Mysuru) and Balakrishnan (Hosur), Malleshwaram MLA Aswathnarayan, MLC 'Mukhayamanthri' Chandru, Former TN BJP President Lakshmanan.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Campaign beat - Part 2
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5 comments:
Interesting. My dog probably chased you away when you were campaigning. Hehe. How much of it really helps btw? I think most people already know whom to vote to, especially in general elections when its the party that mostly matters not the candidate. Its a nuisance, did you also go in autos with loud speakers? Argh, how I hated those. Its a pity I couldn't vote though.
dummy comment because i forgot to check the 'email follow-up comment' check box. Sorry!
I don't fear dogs, bcos of which was forced by team mates to enter more 'doghouses'. atleast one dog bit the pamphlets I was holding in my hand.
and yes, in Chennai I did take the campaign auto to go for lunch. and resisted the temptation to speak on the loud speaker! but otherwise campaign autos go few streets ahead of pedestrian campaigners, so as to not affect our conversations with the voters.
oh, door-2-door campaigning helps immensely. or atleast thats what I wud claim after putting so much effort :)
in anycase, I find it amusing people vote without personally hearing from either the candidate or his campaign team.
and no, were are not trying to influence people who go by party preference. there is a huge independent block which is completely tuned out of politics or remains cynical or all politicians. we 'educated, young, professionals' tried to charm them to the polling booth. many people especially housewives were happy that someone actually came to their door and spoke politics!
even conservative middle class voters who support BJP need to be motivated to actually go out and vote.
I would like to see an election, where every party or atleast BJP goes to every voter in the country and personally seeks his/her vote.
BJP - Balaji Janata Party :-)
Better luck next time and kudos for your campaign effort.
Man, Im joining you in your next campaign.
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