Ashok Gehlot was in Bengaluru and Mangalore on Monday
The campaign for the May 10 Karnataka election hitting the home stretch, the Congress has despatched one of its star campaigners -- Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot - to pitch for the party's model of good governance down south.
Mr Gehlot was in Bengaluru and Mangalore on Monday, in an outreach to the Rajasthani migrant population.
There are about 4 lakh Rajasthani migrants in Karnataka, of whom about 1.5 lakh vote. They comprise about 4 per cent of the state's voting population.
For the Congress, every vote will count in case of a closely fought election.
As Chief Minister of one of the few Congress-ruled states, Mr Gehlot was expected to make a successful pitch to the Marwari trader community in Basvangudi and Gandhinagar, said Jawarilal Lunawat Jain, secretary of Pravasi Rajasthani Karnataka Sangh.
Mr Gehlot, though, is the only leader from Rajasthan in the spotlight in Karnataka. His political rival Sachin Pilot has been left out of the campaigners' list.
Rajasthan goes to polls later this year and Mr Pilot, who had helped re-build the party up from the grassroots ahead of the 2018 election, is working in the state.
The division of labour has not gone un-noticed. Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi - spearheading the BJP's campaign -- attacked the Rajasthan Congress twice in three days.
On the last occasion, he said that a vote for the Congress would mean a government marked by infighting.
As an example, he had cited Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
Mr Gehlot, however, pointed out that in Rajasthan, the BJP too is a house divided and the party's "model of governance is to topple elected governments".
As example, he cited Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Manipur. But in Rajasthan, their efforts have failed, he pointed out. "They (the BJP) lost the money they invested in trying to topple the Congress government in Rajasthan," he added.
"Wherever the Congress government is formed, the Rajasthan model will be implemented to take care of all sections of the society," Mr Gehlot told his audience. "Social security should be a national plank. Rajasthan has done its bit, we have right to health the most comprehensive health insurance scheme," he added.