As polling day draws closer, the weather grows steadily hotter, and the heat of campaigning reaches boiling point in Chamrajpet, where the chief minister takes on two popular film stars.

Until the second week of April, Chamrajpet was just another conservative, middle class locality in the heart of old Bangalore. Suddenly, it became the focus of national interest as Krishna abandoned his home constituency of Maddur in Mandya district for this place.

The other two parties with a strong presence in Bangalore, the Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal-Secular, promptly put up middle-aged but popular film stars against him.

The entire process was marked by great drama as Krishna filed his nomination at the last minute, forcing the other two parties to quickly change their candidates.

The BJP fielded Mukyamantri Chandru, the comic actor and sometime villain, who has contested successfully from elsewhere on the party's ticket over the past decade. Janata Dal-S leader H D Deve Gowda desperately called in Anant Nag, who has been out of politics and into movies full time since he lost his assembly seat five years ago.

Krishna formally launched his campaign in Chamrajpet by touring the area in his Vijaya Dhundubi tour bus, and visiting famous temples and churches there 10 days ago with his wife Prema. Then, he came back for the two days preceding polling day. "Bangalore has become world famous, and the credit goes to Bangaloreans," he said, addressing bystanders from his campaign bus. "I now want to make Karnataka a No 1 state."

Why did Krishna pick Chamrajpet over his native Maddur? Krishna's confidence in Devaraj's hold over the votebanks in the ten large slums of this constituency over the past five years is said to have inspired the chief minister to contest from Chamrajpet. Krishna says he chose this constituency simply because it is a part of old Bangalore, and he has chosen to project Bangalore as his showpiece all through his five-year tenure. He admits to having spent very little time in Maddur, in contrast.

Photograph: B K Ramesh