For farmer vote: BJP's fistful of rice campaign

Bengaluru: In a novel campaign to reach out to farmers ahead of  the coming state assembly elections, 6,000 BJP  workers will begin collecting a fistful of rice from them across the state and promise them a better tomorrow under saffron rule, from March 21.

Speaking to reporters here on Saturday, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar, who is in charge of the party’s preparations for the poll,  said BJP  workers would go door-to-door in all villages to  collect a handful of grains from the farmers and hand over a letter from state party chief, B.S. Yeddyurappa advising them not to lose hope and resort to suicide as the BJP would improve their lot once it came to power. 

The campaign will go on till April 6 followed by mass feasts between  April 8 and 10 in all 224 constituencies using the grains collected. 

“Both farmers and others will take part in this samoohik bhojan,” Mr. Javadekar explained, adding that everyone present would also  take a pledge to say that farmers were “Annadaatha” and party workers would vow to protect the men tilling the fields. Alleging that the “anti- farmer” policies of the  Congress government had led 3,500 farmers to  suicide in the state , the Minister charged that it had failed to  meet their demand for an adequate price for their produce.