In one such incident, a monkey owner in Biharipur village in the constituency refused to free his animal saying it was the sole source of livelihood for his family. A fuming Maneka asked accompanying policemen to settle the score with him. She then followed the man to the police station and didn't budge till the monkey was unchained. The enlightened monkey owners are now keeping off her path altogether.

PUWAIAN (Pilibhit): Meanwhile, Maneka's son isgetting acquainted with the tricks of politics. At Rajiv Chowk in this village, Feroz Varun Gandhi was weighed against Re 1 and other coins the other day. The initiation rite left the latest Nehru-Gandhi family scion decidedly uncomfortable. But Mom must have been pleased.

CHHINDWARA: In Chhindwara, BJP leader and former chief minister Sunderlal Patwa is eating his own words. Last week, he had declared at a press conference in Bhopal that Sonia Gandhi was going to file her nomination at the eleventh hour from Chhindwara and that ``unke nahle par hamara dehla taiyyar hai (we are ready to outsmart her)''. On Monday, Patwa was touring Chhindwara along with cine star Shatrughna Sinha soon after BJP candidate Sontosh Jain had filed his papers. As the BJP procession proceeded towards the district collectorate, a Congress sympathiser asked: ``Patwaiji apka dehla kahan hai (where is your ace)?''

Not to be outdone, Patwa looked at Sinha -- whom the BJP had summoned to contest if Sonia enteredthe fray at the last minute -- and taunted: ``Ab inka kya kam, tumhari Sonia to dar gayi (We don't need him since Sonia developed cold feet).'' Prompt came the rejoinder: ``Unki kya zaroorat? Hamare satte (meaning Kamal Nath, the Congress candidate from the seat) ke samne hi bare, bare chakke ban kar bhag gaye (What's the need for Sonia? Bigshots have been tumbled by our Kamal Nath himself).'' A red-faced Patwa had no reply as he has himself kept off Chhindwara after a humiliating drubbing by Kamal Nath in 1998.

MUMBAI: If voters' apathy wasn't enough, pollsters and candidate managers here have another problem on their hands. As is the annual custom, on the eve of the 10-day Ganesh festival, the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation provides for extra buses for Konkan for the thousands of workers and small-time entrepreneurs in the metropolis who hail from there (former chief minister Manohar Joshi is a prime example) and would like to be with their families for thefestival. The problem is that elections are on the 10th and Ganesh Chaturthi on the 13th. Taking advantage of the long weekend, many are travelling before the polling day.

An estimated 18,000-20,000 people will be headed towards the Konkan. Some may be registered voters back home in Konkan but a large number are on Mumbai and Thane rolls and will skip exercising their ballot. Can't blame them.

RAJGARH: In a novel method to keep their rivals in the dark about their plans, Congress poll managers in this Lok Sabha constituency of Madhya Pradesh are communicating with each other on the wirless in Malayalam. No, they haven't learnt the language; only Malayalees have been hired for the purpose.

-- AMIT SHARMA, YOGESH VAJPEYI, SMRUTI KOPPIKAR AND AGENCIES