BENGALURU: The starter fires and they're off: Sasha Baron Cohen aka The Dictator, is wrapped in a BJP cloak, making a spindly-legged dash to the finish line (in pic). He has his gun of course, competition was never a problem for our trigger-happy dictator! As Admiral General Aladeen would have put it: I am for free press, fair elections and equal rights for women..." "Pfft! I can't say that." And when The Dictator himself decides to comment on an election, it's bound to be a thrilling one.
Scandal, barbs, nail-biting races, emotional speeches and surprise endings: The Karnataka election 2018 had all the trappings of a high-octane potboiler. Political pundits thronged television channels, which became (noisy) platforms of great angst and disapprobation. That was to be expected. The aam aadmi (pun not intended), however, took to social media, providing tidal waves of wit and humour to ease the palpable tension. Here, the BJP and Congress battle meets Tom and Jerry and pictures of the new CM, H.D. Kumaraswamy with a forked tongue more than lived to up to their shock value!
Over three million mentions in connections with #KarnatakaElections2018 appeared on Twitter, in a span of three weeks. It even elicited a response from the social media giant - "Twitter emerged as the best place to catch all the action on during the recently concluded #KarnatakaElections2018," the company said in a statement.
Interestingly, it drew attention from netizens from across the country and the globe, making a local state election a matter of worldwide attention. #KarnatakaVerdict "I hope Congress will get a majority": Congress supporter. "I hope BJP will get a majority": BJP supporter. "I hope it will be a hung assembly": Luxury resort owner Ramesh Srivats wrote, whose tweet was widely shared across social media. Prakash Raj received his share of barbs following his support for the Congress party: This is a moral defeat for Prakash Raj. Forget Bollywood, the bloke won't even have a role in Panchayati Politics," tweeted Suhel Seth. Former Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah set the platform on fire with his witty, "Et tu #Karnataka, with a more tongue in cheek response: Please svae this tweet for future reference. It I win it was all my charm & hard work. If I lose it's all down to those blasted EVMs." It was the Kerala Tourism tweet that won the day. Banned after certain politicians took offence, the wisecrack, which had the country in giggles, proved almost prophetic: After the rough and tumble of the #KarnatakaVerdict, we invite all the MLAs to unwind at the safe & beautiful resorts of God's Own Country. #ComeOutAndPlay
Or maybe, as a Fun@MotivateMe.in will have it on Twitter, perhaps Arvind Kejriwal is the answer to our problems after all: Finally, Arvind Kejriwal to solve Karnataka problem. Even Days: BJP Govt Odd Days: Congress Govt Weekends: JD(S) Govt#KarnatakaFloorTest!
