The Hindu : National / Elections 2004 : Poll-Pourri

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Thursday, Apr 29, 2004

National

National - Elections 2004

Poll-Pourri

Trinamool grouse

The Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani's campaign schedule in West Bengal seems to have raised the hackles of Mamata Banerjee's Nationalist Trinamool Congress. And for a reason. Mr. Advani is expected in the State on April 28 to campaign for BJP candidates in Durgapur, Balurghat and Midnapore. The Trinamool feels Mr. Advani would have done well to set aside some time to campaign for its nominees, as it is part of the NDA. The grapevine has it that the rebel MP, Sudip Bandopadhyay's falling out with the Trinamool chief, Ms. Banerjee, may have something to do with the omission in Mr. Advani's tour programme. Ms. Banerjee is said to have told her aides in private that she is not bothered that Mr. Advani is "ignoring" the Trinamool. But is this because the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, is expected to visit Kolkata on May 3 to address a rally in South Kolkata, Ms. Banerjee's constituency?

Sanjay Speak

Film star Sanjay Dutt stayed away, until the last few days, from campaigning for his father, Sunil Dutt, who is fighting on the Congress ticket. The reason: Sanjay was busy, apolitical and "never did so in the past." He stayed away from the Shiv Sena despite the urging of the party supremo, Bal Thackeray. Now, the junior Dutt has surfaced in Gurdaspur to seek votes for the BJP candidate and Union Minister, Vinod Khanna, despite the fact that the Congress and the BJP are rivals. The junior Dutt said Mr. Khanna was "a member of the family, and Amarinder Singh [the Punjab Chief Minister] an elder brother." He saw nothing wrong in campaigning for Mr. Khanna. He used the dialogues from his latest hit, "Munnabhai, MBBS" to urge his audience to vote for the BJP candidate.

They won't vote

The people of Nekkanamalai panchayat in Tamil Nadu's Tirupattur parliamentary constituency are angry because their repeated demands have been "ignored" by those who have represented them since the first election in 1952. So, they have decided to boycott the elections. The demands include roads, drinking water, education, electricity and health facilities. Located at a height of 2,500 feet, the village with a population of 1,500, a voter strength of 643 and 750 acres of rain-fed patta land, has not got the benefit of the Prime Minister's Rural Roads Scheme meant for villages with over 500 people. There is an elementary school with two teachers who come to the school once a week or sometimes once a month. There is a nutritious meal centre, but the scheme organiser seldom comes here. The nearest fair price shop is in Girisamudram, 7 km away. Many pregnant women and snake-bite victims have died due to the lack of medical facilities. And, the village is yet to be electrified.

- Malabika Bhattacharya, Mahesh Vijapurkar, P.V.V. Murthi

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