BHANDARA, February 19: The sitting Congress Lok Sabha member, Praful Patel, could have been the BJP candidate from Bhandara Lok Sabha constituency if the arithmetic of 47 Congress MPs leaving the party to support a BJP government at the centre to avoid a mid-term poll had worked out. It did not. There were only 40 MPs and Patel was one of those at the helm of the group. So, he is today the Congress candidate from Bhandara.And facing him in a straight fight is Narayandas Saraf, a politically unknown entity, as the BJP candidate. ``This is an attempt by the BJP to put up a weak candidate against Patel to ensure his victory. It is a reward he could expect for his efforts and perhaps future support to the pro-Hindu party,'' said a senior BJP leader of the district, who preferred to be anonymous.
Saraf's campaigners however claim that he has been working without much fanfare by taking up house-to-house contact. ``Our poll campaign is not so visible, like the Congress as we are doing it in a different way. Weare concentrating more on door-to-door campaigns rather than a `demonstrative' one,'' said Rajiv Agrawal, who is in charge of the BJP candidate's election campaign. He alleged that Patel miserably failed to do anything for the constituency during his two terms in 1991 and 1996. He hardly stayed in the constituency and spent most of his time in Mumbai or Delhi as he was busy in the manipulative politics of Sharad Pawar group in the Congress, Agrawal further alleged.
Patel strongly denies this and claims that he was present in Gondia for at least three days in a week. On the other hand, Saraf is almost a New Delhi resident now. So it is obvious that both Patel and Patel claims that he has been maintaining close contact even with the villagers in his constituency and that even before he filed his nomination, he had already completed his first round of campaigning in the constituency. ``Nowhere have the people asked me about the rumour that I was about to defect to the BJP. This was because it was only arumour,'' he quipped.
The rumour spread because of his close friendship with ex-party colleague Suresh Kalmadi, who quit the Congress to contest as an Independent, supported by the BJP and Shiv Sena from Pune, Patel pointed out. Patel is Congress as far as Bhandara is concerned. He gets votes on his strength and not because of the party. On the other hand, Saraf can rely only on the traditional BJP vote bank. If Saraf wins, it will be just a miracle.Kalmadi will motivate Congmen to back Atal
PUNE: In a significant statement in Pune, former Railway Minister Suresh Kalmadi who has quit Congress said he foresaw an active role for himself after the Lok Sabha elections and would exploit his contacts with Congressmen to shore up support for Atal Behari Vajpayee led government at the Centre. Asked whether he would exercise his influence among his former Congress colleagues to fill in the possible gap in securing a clear majority for BJP-led coalition government, Kalmadi emphatically told PTI``Yes''.
``Vajpayee's speech and the President's address (to Parliament in May 1996) have attracted many people in Congress also,'' said Kalmadi ``Well, anything is possible (after polls),'' he added.
``I will play an active role in installation of a stable government led by Vajpayee,'' Kalmadi, who was instrumental in drawing around 40 congress members in the last Lok Sabha in support of Vajpayee following withdrawal of Congress support to United Front government and later quit Congress, said.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
