Karnataka Assembly poll is a star studded affair

While most of the aspirants, particularly those wanting tickets from the Congress are keeping their fingers crossed to see their names in the list of candidates for the Assembly polls, BSR Congress of former BJP minister B Sriramulu has come out clear that popular actresses Pooja Gandhi and Rakshita Prem will be fielded from the party in Raichur and Chamarajanagar respectively.

Pooja Gandhi shot to fame with her low budget film ‘Mungaru Male’ and came to be known as one of the most sought after actresses. However, she set her foot into politics by joining the JD(S) of former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda first.  For reasons unknown, she then embraced the KJP of B S Yeddyurappa and even before the news of she joining the KJP could sink in, she was seen posing for photographers after joining BSR Congress.

Rakshita was a leading actress in Sandalwood, but is now a home-maker after her wedding to director Prem.

BSR Congress, whose influence is limited to a few districts, received a drubbing in the recent urban local body polls, winning just 86 seats of the total of nearly 5,000 up for grabs.

While BSR Congress is cashing on the popularity of these two popular faces, why should the Congress stay away?

The party has leading Kannada actors Ramya and Bhavana, also a member of the Congress Election Campaign Committee wooing the voters by their poise and faces. The Congress has also roped in leading Kannada actor Darshan for campaigning. Also chipping in would be veteran star Ambareesh, who is also a ticket contender from Mandya. Also coming into picture will be Telugu superstar and Union Tourism Minister Chiranjeevi in districts bordering Andhra Pradesh where Telugu-speaking voters are in sizeable numbers.

Meanwhile, Raju Gouda alias Narasimha Nayak, who had served as Minister in the Jagadish Shettar cabinet but quit recently, joined the JDS today in the presence of the party's state unit President H D Kumaraswamy.

Gouda was earlier keen to join Congress and was a ticket aspirant from that party, but things did not work out for him.

There is also speculation over the move of Tourism Minister Anand Singh, who said he would take a "decision" on April 11 amid indications that he is not averse to contest as an independent if it comes to that.