Ahmedabad, December 7
Even as the war of words is hotting up between the Congress and the BJP with Assembly elections in Gujarat just four days away, both parties are banking heavily on their Central leaders to give them the much-needed impetus to pull through.
The campaigning seems to be reaching a crescendo even though the common man is not impressed with all the claims and counter-claims made by both the Congress and the BJP.
Struck hard by tragedies, one after the other, the ordinary Gujarati today seems more bothered about his livelihood rather than politicians shouting themselves hoarse, who have nothing more to offer than mere promises besides.
In a state where business is the main source of livelihood for the majority, there has been no work for many over the past six months and they don’t see any relief till the time the final outcome of this round of poll in the country is over.
But what comes as a surprise to many is the stark contrast in the campaigning style of the two main rivals. Many here feel that this election has become to some extent a fight between all leaders of the BJP put together against ‘the women’ of the Congress.
While the BJP has pulled out all stops, the Congress is going about campaigning in a more subtle manner which has definitely appealed to many here.
As against the hordes of BJP leaders, which include Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, party President Venkaiah Naidu, RSS leader Khushabhao Thakre, Union ministers Sushma Sawaraj, Uma Bharati, Pramod Mahajan, Sahib Singh Verma, Sahtrughan Sinha, Vinod Khanna, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi and popular actresses Hema Malini and Vijay Shanti (of Telugu cinema fame), the Congress seems to be pinning its hope on the name “Gandhi”.
From Indira Gandhi to now Sonia Gandhi and even Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the Congress is exploiting the name to the hilt to attract the attention of the voters. The only other name which the Congress seems to be using is that of its chief ministerial candidate Shankar Sinh Vaghela, who can give BJP chief ministerial
hopeful
Narendra Modi a run for his money. While Prime Minister Vajpayee addressed election meetings in Gujarat today and will come back for another round on Sunday, Ms Sonia Gandhi has already had two rounds of campaigning and comes back for another tomorrow.
The BJP’s gameplan seems to be to ‘carpet bomb’ the Gujaratis with an endless trail of leaders while the Congress wants to cash in the most from women.
For the first time posters and banners featuring Priyanka Gandhi Vadra have come out in Gujarat. The posters and banners of Mrs Vadra along with that of her mother and grandmother Indira Gandhi have been put outside the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee office here in Ahmedabad.
The vociferous BJP campaign is being effectively countered by the Congress through the local cable TV networks. The Congress advertisement campaigns are featuring not only the “failures” of the Narendra Modi government but also posing questions to the BJP itself which has forced the latter (BJP) to cut down on some of the rhetoric.
The lack of interest among people is said to be one of the reasons for shifting most of Prime Minister Vajpayee’s public rallies towards the late evenings and nights to attract crowds.
The electoral battle is also being fought through video films and advertisements with the help of video vans. Akshardham to Godhra and Vajpayee-Musharraf meetings and atankvad (terrorism) is being projected in different ways through video clippings.
