The Hindu : POLL-POURRI

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 21, 2004

National

National - Elections 2004

POLL-POURRI

Spoken too soon?

The BJP president, M. Venkaiah Naidu, has often criticised the CPI (M) for engaging the Congress in a kushti (wrestling match) in West Bengal and Kerala while extending to it a hand of friendship (dosti) in New Delhi.

Perhaps he had spoken too soon. For the BJP and its National Democratic Alliance partner, the Janata Dal (United) will also be taking on each other in a "boxing match" in Karnataka, and, perhaps, in Jharkhand too, while shaking hands in Bihar.

Give her a chance

"She was good when she was pradhan mantri [Prime Minister]" is the response from some the people of the remote tribal villages in Madhya Pradesh when asked for their opinion about Sonia Gandhi as the next Prime Minister. On being told that it was Indira Gandhi who had been the pradhan mantri, they immediately suggest that she [Ms. Sonia Gandhi] be given a chance. "We have always voted for Indira Gandhi's panja chhaap (hand symbol) but Atal Bihari Vajpayee is also good. He is from the phool chhaap (flower symbol) party," a group of young men add quickly.

Curiously, a majority of the people want to meet Mr. Vajpayee personally. "We have seen him on television but never met him," most of them, particularly women, say.

Battle-fit at 88

He is touching 88, and visibly frail. The eyesight may be failing, but his political instincts remain sharp as ever. The smell of the impending political battle seems to have breathed new energy into Harkishan Singh Surjeet, the CPI (M) general secretary.

Apart from presiding over the CPI (M)'s affairs, Mr. Surjeet is working behind the scenes to bring the anti-BJP parties together. He is either working the phones or playing host to the likes of Mulayam Singh Yadav, Laloo Prasad Yadav, Ram Vilas Paswan and several others in a bid to coax them into coming to some kind of an understanding. Even the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, and a number of other senior Congressmen often seek his counsel.

Mr. Surjeet admits he has seen it all in his long innings. The body is weakening, but the spirit refuses to give up.

Hope for losers

Most first-time losers in Uravakonda Assembly constituency of Andhra Pradesh's Anantapur district do not have to lose heart. There is always a next time. Also, once elected, a candidate is not chosen again by the people of this constituency. G.C. Venkanna was the only exception, having triumphed twice from here — in 1962 and 1967.

B. Basappa, who lost the 1967 election, won in 1972. A loser in 1972, R. Vemanna, triumphed in 1978 but lost in 1983. K.V. Gopinath, who lost the 1985 election, won in 1989, but a winner in 1985, G. Narayanappa, lost in 1989. Similarly, a loser in the 1994 election, Y. Sivarami Reddy, a Congress rebel (independent), won in 1999. P. Keshav, a victorious candidate in 1994, bit the dust in 1999.

Naxalite threat

Before entering Maharashtra from Adilabad in Andhra Pradesh during his ongoing `Bharat Uday Yatra,' the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, had to leave his well-equipped `rath' [campaign vehicle] and get into a bullet-proof car in view of the naxalite threat. The threat perception had heightened following the killing of M. Venkatraju, husband of the Andhra Pradesh Minister, M. Manikumari, by naxalites. The `rath' followed.

Mr. Advani also travelled by a non-descript car to Bhandara, a naxalite-infested district in Maharashtra. BJP sources, however, said Mr. Advani had to switch vehicles because his `rath' needed urgent repairs.

- Neena Vyas, Aarti Dhar, Javed M. Ansari, B. Chandrashekhar, Arunkumar Bhatt

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