The high voltage campaign for the May 10 Assembly elections in Karnataka is coming to an end today, as all three major political parties in the state -- BJP, Congress, and JD(S) -- are busy making their last pitch to woo the voters.The top guns of all the major political parties are on a campaign blitz across the state, even as the ruling BJP is striving to break the 38-year-old pattern of alternating governments and retain its southern citadel.

The Congress is working hard to wrest power from the BJP to give itself much-needed elbow room and momentum to position itself as the main opposition player in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.The JD(S) led by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda is putting all its might into campaigning, wanting to emerge as "king" and not "kingmaker", hoping to get the required numbers to form a government on its own."Government with a full majority" seems to be the favorite slogan of the leaders of all the political parties during the campaigning for the elections to the 224-member Assembly, as they stress getting a clear mandate to form a strong and stable government in the state.

While BJP's campaign largely centralizes on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the 'double-engine' government, national issues, and programs or achievements of the union government coupled with a few from the state, the Congress's, by and large, focuses on local issues and is also run by its local leaders initially. However, its central leaders like AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra joined in subsequently.

JD(S) too runs a highly localized campaign, anchored solely by its leader H D Kumaraswamy, with party patriarch Deve Gowda too joining in, despite advanced age and related ailments.Prime Minister Modi's campaign juggernaut in the past week since April 29 moves steadily ahead with as many as 18 mega public meetings and six roadshows so far. The PM canvassed votes for BJP candidates across the state with the poll slogan 'Ee Baariya Nirdhara, Bahumatada BJP Sarkara' (This Time's Decision: Majority BJP Government).

Ahead of the March 29 announcement of polls, Prime Minister Modi had visited the state seven times since January, to unveil several government schemes and projects, and addressed numerous meetings of beneficiaries of the government's various schemes.According to BJP leaders, Prime Minister Modi's campaigning across the state has boosted the party's morale and confidence among the electorate, which they hope will convert into votes and help the party script history in the polls.Union Home Minister Amit Shah too has extensively traveled the state, campaigning and strategizing for the polls. "PM and Shah have put Congress on the backfoot in the run-up to the polls," a senior BJP leader said.Several BJP leaders including party national president J P Nadda, Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled states like Uttar Pradesh's Yogi Adiyanath, Assam's Himanta Biswa Sarma, Madhya Pradesh's Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Goa's Pramod Sawant, as well as Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman, S Jaishankar, Smriti Irani, Nitin Gadkari, among others, have traveled to various parts of the state for campaigning.After having faced difficulties in forming the government on its strength in 2008 and 2018, as it fell short of a majority despite emerging as the single largest party, the BJP is this time hoping for a clear mandate with a full majority and has set a target of winning at least 150 seats.