Several star campaigners but nothing new for voters

KANPUR: A few miles from the state capital where campaigning came to an end on Friday, Kanpur was host to several star campaigners and one of them, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, addressing a public meeting at Moti Jheel lawns here.
Former BJP national president Rajnath Singh, BJP president Nitin Gadkari, chief minister Mayawati, JD (U) chief Sharad Yadav, BJP leaders Uma Bharati and Arun Jaitely also came on a whirlwind visit to various places in an around the city.
However, the visiting leaders were identical at least on one front. Instead of talking about their contributions or giving assurances, most of them identically dedicated their speeches to ‘exposing’ rivals in the fray. Echoing Congress leaders’ oft-repeated claims as how Uttar Pradesh witnessed plundering of Central funds during Mayaraj, the Prime Minister also spoke on the same lines and exhorted people to defeat forces involved in corrupt practices. “State government wasted the entire fund that was sent from the Centre,” Singh remarked at Moti Jheel.
At Kalyanpur, BJP leader Rajnath Singh had similar allegations against the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre. Singh addressed a rally in favour of BJP nominee Premlata Katiyar. He said that the Congress leaders were equally responsible for corrupting the system and problem lies with them, rather than anyone else.
“The NRHM scam has shown not only loot of funds but also involvement of criminals in governance. Public money was looted and now murders are happening every day that shows how the BSP leaders patronized corrupt practices,” he said. The BJP leader said that UPA was the root cause of the entire corruption. “They (UPA) are exposed after the 2G scam and they set the precedence for the rot to settle,” he argued while talking to reporters on the sidelines of the public meeting.
Chief minister Mayawati's rally at Koyla Nagar in the heart of the city, witnessed a huge crowd. The place falls in Maharajpur Assembly constituency from where Shikha Mishra, wife of Anant Mishra, is the BSP nominee. Anant Mishra was sacked as health minister for his alleged involvement in the NRHM scam. “Don’t go by manifestos, they are bunch of lies,” she said.
Mayawati asked people to cast their votes and defeat the ‘enemies’ of downtrodden. From Gadkari to Uma Bharati and Mayawati, all spoke about rivals’ misdeeds but none had much to talk about why and for what the voters should trust them. Issues of public interest were also missing from the leaders’ rhetoric and their rallies were also planned strategically eyeing the vote-bank. Manmohan Singh’s visit to Kanpur in election season is ‘cardinal’ for the Congress leaders, thanks to presence of a huge Sikh vote-bank that is largely shared between the BJP and the Congress candidates.
Eyeing the same vote-bank, the BJP roped in its Delhi leaders, who hold sway on Sikh voters. The likes of Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley were here that too was seen as an attempt to woo the Sikh voters. Rajnath Singh spoke at various places in and around Kanpur, thanks to the decisive Thakur voters mainly on the outskirts of the city. While leaders made no bones in exposing rivals, ruins of the city’s glorious past still tell the story about the sorry state of affairs that continues to persist in the city. Most of the industries that earned the Kanpur the nickname of ‘Manchester of the East’, are shut for years but none of the high profile leaders uttered a word about reviving them or even clearing the backlog of dues that the companies owe to their former employees.
“Thousands are jobless in the city. A few of them are middle-aged but none of the leaders could come up with a plan to show them future,” remarked a senior trade union leader, while talking to TOI in front of the historic Lal Imli mills, closed for several years now. The trade union leader preferred anonymity, as he is one of the ‘committed’ volunteers of Ajay Kapoor.
Although a few patches have seen some initiatives, thanks to the emergence of local MP and Union coal minister Shriprakash Jaiswal but the efforts are still half-cast.
UP assembly elections
Assembly elections news 2012