Political Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru
Bengaluru, May 1: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's much-awaited first election campaign rally in Karnataka held in Chamarajnagar on Tuesday, May 1 has failed to live up to the expectations of BJP leaders in the state. Top party leaders have been heavily relying on star campaigner Modi for a reversal of their electoral fortunes, but unfortunately for them, the maiden rally of the blitzkrieg campaign did not pack enough punch.
A political analyst who closely watched Modi's lenghthy speech said, "Modi spoke very well as usual, but probably due to the inability of the translator to make his Hindi speech understable to the crowd, the much-expected power was not generated. As usual, he mocked Rahul Gandhi, naming him 'Naamdaar' while calling himself the 'Kaamdaar'. He attacked CM Siddaramaiah, Sonia Gandhi and Dr Manmohan Singh, but failed to answer the important questions raised by CM Siddaramaiah about the corruption by state BJP leaders and also the promises made by PM Modi in 2014."
Analysts also pointed out that the translator was not as aggressive as Modi in repeating his speech in Kannada. The crowd was seen reacting only when the translator spoke in Kannada, which clearly indicated that the majority of the crowd did not understand what Modi was saying with his usual body language.
Reacting after the first Modi rally, a BJP leader in Mysuru said this was just the first rally, and things would change as he addresses rest of his rallies in the state one after the other.
Modi committed a blunder by mocking CM Siddaramaiah for contesting from two seats. Fear of losing prompted the CM to contest in another, he said. Analysists say that when Modi himself contested in two Lok Sabha seats - in Vadodara and Varanasi - he should not have touched that subject. Soon after the rally, CM Siddaramaiah rebutted Modi in a similar manner.
"Was it fear that drove you to contest from 2 parliamentary constituencies (Varanasi & Vadodara) Mr. PM @narendramodi ? Of course you are a 56 inch man, you would have some clever explanation!! Forget 2 seats, Sir. Worry about the fact that your party will not cross 60-70!(sic)" the CM tweeted.