Poll officials search Amit Shah's aircraft in Karnataka

Hubballi (Karnataka) : BJP President Amit Shah was in for a surprise on Tuesday when Election Commission officials searched his private aircraft on landing in this Karnataka city for party events ahead of the May 12 assembly poll.

"A team of our officials searched the chartered aircraft in which Shah arrived here from New Delhi for party activities, to ensure the Model Code of Conduct is being observed," a poll official told IANS over phone.

Shah, who is on a two-day visit to the was accompanied by two more party leaders.

The search was carried by three poll officials, though nothing "unusual" was found in the aircraft.

"It was a routine check. Found nothing. It's part of our drill under the MCC, in force since March 27 when the election was announced," noted the official.

Party's Lok Sabha member from Dharwad Prahlad Joshi received Shah at the airport and accompanied him to Kaginele in Byadgi taluk of Haveri district for addressing a convention of Other Backward Classes.

Asserting that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was going to form the next government in the state, Shah said the party would fulfil the demand of the OBC community for constitutional status to the OBCs.

"Though the BJP-led NDA government has formulated 116 schemes for the OBCs across the country, unfortunately, they have not been reaching the intended beneficiaries in Karnataka due to non-cooperation of the state government," charged Shah without naming the ruling Congress.

Later, the party chief visited Badami in the state's northwest Bagalkot district for an interaction with seers of religious sects and mutts.