Big guns fire as Karnataka poll campaign ends

Campaigning for the Karnataka assembly elections, where BJP hopes to defend its control over the only southern state, closed on Monday. The fates of 2,613 candidates will be decided across 224 seats by over 52 million voters on May 10. The BJP?s campaign was led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while Congress ran an equally aggressive but more local campaign led by former chief minister Siddaramaiah and state unit chief DK Shivakumar. The regional JD(S) relied on the charisma and ground connect of its patriarch, former prime minister HD Deve Gowda.