Mangalore: 'Pack-up-and-go' Time for Bigwigs Camping in Ullal

Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (MB)
Pics Dayanand Kukkaje and team

• Come 5 pm on Thursday, May 31 - it will be 'Silence of the Lambs'

Mangalore, May 31: The  clock is ticking away prior to the Ullal assembly by-election on Saturday, June 2.

With barely 48 hours to go for the electorate of Ullal to choose their candidate, the Election Commission has ordered all persons from outside the constituency to go out, in the interests of fair and free polling.

The official deadline for outsiders to pack and go is 5 pm on Thursday, May 31.

Congress, BJP and JD(S) have tried even to bring in filmi glamour by getting the Sandalwood heroes and heroines to seek votes for their respective parties. They drew crowds to the election meetings all right. But it is yet to be seen whether the same crowds would come to the booths to exercise their franchise.

A large number of party heavyweights have reportedly been camping in hotels, resorts, guest-houses and private residences. How many of them are going to obey the order and how many are going to escape the radar of the Election Election commission is anybody's guess. 

There were high expectations in the BJP camp that their star campaigners at the national level, the loquacious Navjot Singh Sidhu and firebrand Sushma Swaraj would make it to Ullal on the last day, i.e. Thursday. But there was no sign of theirs. Hence some colourful rhetoric and fireworks have been missed.

Narendra Modi was to be imported from Gujarat to bolster BJP's campaign. But having been stuck in the web of fake encounters himself, he had enough of things to take care of back home. A party insider told this correspondent that another factor that weighed against Modi's campaigning and served as a caution was that his presence would have backfired on the party, because of the large presence of Muslim voters in Ullal, which is not going to forgive and forget the Gujarat pogrom that easily.

In all, about 200 leaders of different hues and colours from outside the constituency and district are reported to have walked the Ullal territory during the past few days. Since the three major parties have a great stake to negotiate, it is unofficially being whispered that large amounts of black money has been pumped into election campaigning.

Thanks to the strict vigil of the Election Commission, there is less of pollution from loudspeakers, banners, buntings and cutouts this time around.

Whatever noise and blabber was being heard will find an end by Thursday evening.

Come 5 pm, it will be 'Silence of the Lambs'.