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Priyanka turns a charismatic leader

          Rae Bareli: She is the ideal candidate - charismatic, well-spoken and with the looks of a movie star. Her political pedigree is also impeccable. Her great-grandfather, grandmother and father were all prime ministers and her mother is the head of the Congress party. Members of the Congress party say she will re-energize the once- powerful party, which was battered in recent polls. But Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has no plans to contest polls for another five years.

          For thirty-three-year old Priyanka, belonging to the first family of politics, it has not been an easy route. After the assassination of her father in 1991, she became the pillar of strength for her Italy-born mother, Sonia and coaxed her to revive the fortunes of the sinking party. The Nehru-Gandhi family has produced three prime ministers and countless ministers, and rivals the Kennedys in both lore and tragedy. When Sonia fought the national polls in 1998, Priyanka campaigned for her from Amethi, a Congress bastion for decades. And even now, she has taken an extensive tour of Uttar Pradesh, where her mother and elder brother Rahul are contesting from. Priyanka's oratory has been markedly political. She has not shied away from criticizing India's much-vaunted economic growth, dismissing it as illusory.

          Priyanka feels that the national elections 2004 are a direct fight between the secular and non-secular forces, the Congress and the ruling Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). "The most important thing about this election is that there are communal forces pitted against secular forces and I think that this election really is going to decide in many ways the future of India because it's very important for all those who believe in the India we have all been brought up in, which is the secular India where everybody has equal rights and I think this election is really going to throw that question up before the people," Priyanka said in an interview in Rae Bareli.

          Political analysts say it's her very inaccessibility that creates the mystique around her. She is said to have a good combination of her grandmother's appeal and her mother's stoicism. In the past, however, she has sought to stay away from the spotlight that has claimed the lives of her grandmother, Indira Gandhi and her father, Rajiv Gandhi-both were killed by assassins. Her 1997 wedding to Robert Vadra, a jewellery exporter, hit the headlines across the country primarily because he and his family were low-key and not from the same pedigree.

          When asked about joining politics, she says she is already into it. "A lot of people keep asking me when am I going to enter politics but in many ways I am already in politics because I have been working for five years in my mother's constituency, I have been trying to solve the problems over there for the people and I have also been working with the Congress organisation, trying to restructure it and make it strong," she said. Priyanka attributes her success to her family values. "Everything I am is basically because of my family. Not in terms of what people think of me but the person that I am. Obviously whatever happened in my family, affected me. I saw people working hard, I saw people believed in something and went out and did it. Of course that influenced me a lot," she said.

           Members of her Congress party cannot hide the glee at seeing an electable Gandhi and regard her as a leader-in-waiting. The BJP certainly is concerned. Senior party leaders would like to debar not only Sonia due to her foreign origin but also the Gandhi siblings. The Congress, badly beaten in recent state elections, and desperately in need of new blood, is making the most of the situation. It has accused the BJP of being scared of the Gandhi siblings. Once called the grand old party of Indian politics, the Congress, the analysts say, would face a worst-ever drubbing in the national polls.

Leaders sweat it out on last day of third phase (Go To Top)

         Gorakhpur: Campaigning for the third phase of national polls ends on Saturday. One hundred and thirty seven constituencies will go for polls across 11 states on Monday. Top leaders, including the Nehru-Gandhi family's heir apparent Rahul Gandhi, campaigned in Hindi heartland states, which go to polls on Monday. Rahul is contesting from Amethi, a bastion of main Congress party for decades. Son of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the late former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Rahul swept through dusty hamlets accompanied by drumbeaters in Uttar Pradesh. Hundreds of adulating villagers around Gorakhpur district cheered Rahul Gandhi as the inheritor of his father's political legacy. His family has ruled India for most of its post-independence history, and both his grandmother, Indira Gandhi, and his father, Rajiv, were assassinated. Italian-born Sonia Gandhi, who heads the party, has decided to shift to a neighbouring constituency once represented by her mother-in-law, late prime minister Indira Gandhi.

           In Kashmir, chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed addressed a huge gathering at Badgam district. Sayeed lauded people's participation in the first phase of polls, despite threats by militants. "The participation of the people in the elections has been enormous. That's why they are trying to scare away people by throwing grenades and firing. But still, people are not scared of that. They are defying the militants," said Sayeed. Separatist organisations and militant groups have called for a boycott of the polls, saying it would not solve the state's problems. In the first phase of polling in the state on Tuesday, more than 40 percent voting was reported though it was only 23 percent in the violence-prone Kashmir region but more than made up by the high turnout in Jammu district. More than 40,000 people have been killed in a separatist revolt in the state which began in 1989. India accuses Pakistan of stoking the 15-year-old rebellion. Pakistan denies the charges.

           Meanwhile, film stars campaigned for Shiv Sena candidate from Bombay north-west, Sanjay Nirupam. Muscle-man Suneil Shetty and actress Poonam Dhillon, wearing saffron bandanas, sought people's support for Nirupam. Political parties have roped in an array of film stars to either contest or campaign for them. Opinion polls have predicted a clear majority for the Bharatiya Janata Party. Results of the elections, to be held in five phases will be declared on May 13.

Elections hit banana traders in Bihar (Go To Top)

          Hajipur: Farmers and businessmen in Hajipur in India's Bihar, one of the chief banana producing belts of the country, are a worried lot as their businesses have been hit hard by the ongoing general elections. Banana planters say their produce, ready for export to Nepal, is rotting in godowns due to unavailability of vehicles as all of them have been booked for election duty. "Our main problem is that all the bananas have dried up...how will it fetch a good price? Traders come but they go away seeing that the trucks are not being allowed to leave the area. The authorities have set up a camp here, where all the trucks are parked, they are not allowed to leave. Our bananas might not even fetch 30 percent of the cost, which can further dip to 10 percent if they dry up further," said Surinder, a banana commission agent.

           With the major banana season stretching from April to June, farmers are worried that unavailability of transport for a longer time could result in an irrecoverable loss for them as well as for the indermediaries. Truckers and vehicle owners, who receive little or no payment for their use during the elections, are not too happy either. Over eighty percent of the vehicles in this area have been booked by authorities for election duty. Lorries too have been hijacked by politicians for transporting people to election rallies. "We have been standing here without any food or water...They have even taken bribes. There was jam all along, so it took us a long time. Our trucks are loaded. We are coming from Moradabad (in Uttar Pradesh) and have to go to Patna," said Sikander, a truck owner. Bananas and mangoes are the chief exports of Hajipur. Bananas from Hajipur are exported to Kathmandu, Bettiah, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Sitamarhi, Munger, Ara, Buxar, Aurangabad, Patna, and Jehanabad. Bihar's polling schedule was April 20 and 26 and May 5.