Its the Cong president's first visit to Rae Bareli after the LS bye-election. All along the route, complaints about power cuts are the refrain.
RAE BARELI: UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi emerges from the Hanuman temple at Churuwa, right at the entrance of Rae Bareli, with an orange tilak on her forehead. With son Rahul in tow, she proceeds on her thanksgiving visit to her constituency on the hot Saturday afternoon. People in the crowd cheer for her: "Sonia Gandhi zindabad." There are also shouts of "Mulayam Singh murdabad."
Sonia gets down to Mulayam lashing: "Pehle jo thoda bahut bijli aati thi who bhi band kar di rajya sarkar ne… kyun ki Sonia Gandhi yahaan ki MP hai. Yeh insaaf hai kya?" (The state government has imposed power cuts because I am MP from here. Is this justice?)
This is her first visit to this constituency, which she reclaimed in the Lok Sabha bye-election with a margin of over 4.17 lakh votes. All along the route, complaints about power cuts are the refrain.
Anger is simmering among the people of Rae Bareli. "Sonia ji wants to give round-the-clock electricity to Rae Bareli… but it is the state government which is playing politics," says Vijay Dixit of Paharpur.
Exposure to high-profile elections has made its people politically savvy. "We know power cuts are being enforced due to petty politics. Rae Bareli used to get 24-hour power supply before the bye-election. After Sonia ji's victory, we hardly get power," says 65-year-old Kalawati of Gurbakshganj. The Maurawan irrigation canal, which is the lifeline for farmers here, has been dry ever since the Congress lost power in UP, says Hanuman Singh of Sataon.
There are countless people whose expectations are yet to be fulfilled by their MP ----- people who did not get pension despite repeated pleas to Sonia, jobless youngsters who feel they should get jobs by virtue of being voters of this VIP borough, and students who complain the nearest degree college is 20 km away. Still, they are all praise for Sonia Gandhi. The reason is simple.
As Zafrul Mansuri, a local Congress worker, points out, "These people know this constituency would remain a VVIP one as long as it is represented by the Nehru-Gandhi family. They will never repeat the mistake of 1977 when Indira Gandhi was defeated from here."
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