Farmers use cutouts of Narendra Modi, Amit Shah as scarecrows

CHIKKAMAGALURU: The BJP completed a clean sweep of the five assembly segments in Chikkamagaluru district, thanks to whirlwind campaigns by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party national president Amit Shah. Now, farmers in Lakkavalli hobli of Tarikere taluk are reaping benefits of those campaigns — they are using discarded cutouts of the two leaders as scarecrows in their fields.
Both leaders had addressed massive rallies in the district and local leaders too had carried out aggressive publicity campaigns using cutouts of the two national leaders along with the party’s chief ministerial candidate B S Yeddyurappa.The discarded cutouts are now being put to good use.
"It (hoardings) is not restricted to a particular party,” said Rajesh Matapati, a resident of Tarikere and a dealer in agro equipment. “Party workers had erected the cutouts during the assembly elections in May and didn’t bother cleaning up. Now the farmers are using them in their fields.”
Thanks to copious rain this year, farmers in the hobli have already completed sowing and are using the scarecrows to protect germinating seeds. "People in the hobli used the buntings and wooden sticks used for the cutouts for various purposes,” Matapati said.