Tumkur: As Karnataka votes on Thursday, in many ways it will be a referendum on the performance of the first BJP government in the South.
One of Karnataka's driest districts is seeing a bitter poll battle between the BJP and the JD(S) -- once coalition partners. Unemployment, water shortage and bad infrastructure are long-standing issues here.
"When elections come near, they come to us like this, then they are not to be seen," said Mansoor Ahmed, a resident.
The considerable Vokkaliga presence in Tumkur might help the JD(S), but it has an even greater number of Lingayats who are traditionally known to side with the BJP.
"Yeddyurappa has campaigned aggressively this time, even Deve Gowda has been campaigning; the BJP has seemingly trapped the traditional voters for the Congress with many schemes," said Devaraj, a political journalist.
A Congress stronghold till the nineties, Tumkur is likely to give a tough time to the BJP this time, if the JD(S) sway here is anything to go by.