As the Karnataka unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) completed its 75-day Parivartana Yatra, it is now awaiting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address a rally to mark the conclusion of the yatra and build tempo for Assembly elections.

The yatra, which commenced on November 2 in Bengaluru with the aim of reaching out to voters in every assembly constituency, every taluk and district, concluded in Mysuru on January 25.

The yatra covered all the 224 assembly segments in the state and was solely to energise the party cadres, countering the rival political party’s tall claims and also to consolidate its vote bank in the state.

During the course of the yatra, saffron party saw many issues surfacing in every region and was timely settled with the intervention of party leaders before they became big.

Through the yatra, party tested its election issues in different regions and also witnessed many ticket seekers and aspirants spiritedly mobilising people to attend rallies in their respective constituencies.

The yatra also witnessed bitter tug-off war between party loyalists and erstwhile KJP (party which B S Yedurappa floated after quitting BJP couple of years ago) members to impress the party leaders to contest elections.

The party roped in many senior national leaders and chief ministers of BJP ruled states like Chattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh addressing rally in Belagavi. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan addressed in Haveri. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in two cities – Hubballi and Bengaluru to give a boost to its voter outreach programme.

The party also had roped in Union ministers from state like Ananth Kumar, Sadananda Gowda and Ananth Kumar Hegde in addition to many Union ministers visiting regularly to boost the morale of the party cadres. But what was striking during the 75-day yatra was Union minister skill development minister Ananth Kumar Hedge (representing Uttara Kannada constituency in the Parliament) delivering controversial speeches in central and northern districts in the state. While Yogi Adityanath’s frequent visit to Karnataka became precursor to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit later this week.

Amit Shah’s frequent visit to Karnataka too is been seen as BJP is serious and does not want to lose the state. Also, he himself addressing three rallies during the yatra and his hawk-eye monitoring of election preparations has rejuvenated party cadres.

As the yatra concluded and now party awaiting Modi address, political observers say Saffron party has finally found traction to face the elections.

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