Jammu, February 9
While two senior politicians from Himachal Pradesh — Mr Shanta Kumar, Union Minister for Civil Supplies, and Mr Sat Mahajan — have started campaigning for the BJP and the Congress, respectively, in the Jammu Lok Sabha constituency, the Panthers Party and the National Conference have been on a vote-catching exercise on their own.
Mr Sat Mahajan, a senior Congress leader and the party observer, has been on a hectic pre-poll campaign in favour of Mr Madan Lal Sharma for the past one week. Mr Shanta Kumar addressed a series of pre-poll rallies in Jammu today.
The BJP, in fact, got a boost when the most influential section in the party, led by the Union Minister for Food Processing, Prof Chaman Lal Gupta, formally announced its support to the BJP candidate, Dr Nirmal Singh. Accompanied by several party leaders, Professor Gupta inaugurated the city election office of the BJP here today where he and his party colleagues launched a scathing attack on the National Conference accusing it of dividing the state along communal lines and perpetuating a policy of discrimination among people of the Jammu region.
Compared to the better resources with the BJP, the Congress, and the National Conference, the Panthers Party candidate, Prof Bhim Singh’s was a single-handed affair with him moving from place to place with his party legislator, Mr Harsh Dev Singh. At several election rallies, Prof Bhim Singh was offered garlands woven of currency notes. Voters shouted, “Hum tumhe vote dengeye, tum hamain Jammu suba dena” (we shall give you our votes, you give us Jammu state).
Despite the fact that the Congress leaders claim that a pro-Congress wave has started sweeping the Jammu Lok Sabha constituency, where polling is slated for February 21, its observer, Mr Sat Mahajan, fears rigging by the National Conference.
After a hectic pre-poll tour, Mr Mahajan told reporters here today that the party would take up with the Chief Election Commissioner the need for better supervision to prevent the ruling National Conference from rigging the poll.
Mr Mahajan said the first step towards rigging the poll was taken in the shape of manipulating the electoral rolls. He referred to the Poonch and Rajouri Assembly segments and said the number of voters was higher than the population registered by the Census Commission.
As against this, the National Conference candidate, Ch Talib Hussain, who is being assisted by a caravan of ministers in his campaign, has been trying to allure voters with the slogan that a vote for the NC was a vote for political stability and progress.
For the BSP candidate, Sheikh Abdul Rehman, amelioration of people belonging to the Backward Classes is the main slogan to garner support from this segment.
