Promises in badland sans baton

Kumod Verma / TNN / Nov 18, 2005, 03:42 IST

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Though she is politically naive, she is leaving no stone unturned to convince the electorate.

DANAPUR: Though she is politically naive, she is leaving no stone unturned to convince the electorate that she alone can ensure development in crime-hit Danapur Assembly.
Trailed by a legion of supporters, BJP nominee Asha Devi, the widow of slain BJP leader Satnarain Sinha, moves from door to door, soliciting votes for herself. Sinha was killed on the day RJD held a rally in Patna in 2003.
Buoyed up with her victory in February when she defeated RJD strongman Ramanand Yadav by 7,000 votes, Asha Devi is confident of retaining the seat, which of late has turned into a safe haven for criminals, once again.
During her dawn-to-dusk campaign, the BJP nominee never fails to remind the electorate about the poor governance of the Lalu-Rabri regime in the last 15 years.

Still hoping to ride on sympathy votes, Asha Devi is sure of getting the women's vote en bloc, irrespective of caste, creed and religion.
A Yadav by caste, Asha Devi, seems confident of making a dent in the RJD's Yadav votebank, like the February polls.
The BJP nominee is also trying to impress upon the middle-class people as well as those in white-collar jobs to cast their votes in her favour in the name of development.
The Danapur Assembly segment is a Yadav-dominated seat. The electorate comprises of 80,000 Yadav voters, 70,000 Banias, 30,000 Koeris and Kurmis, 15,000 Muslims, 10,000 Dalits and 30,000 other caste men.

Interestingly, the Danapur Assembly segment has never returned a non-Yadav candidate since 1952. Locked in a battle with RJD strongman Ramanand Yadav and six others, Asha Devi is sanguine that the "lotus" will bloom this time as well in the Danapur Assembly seat.
"The people of the area are fed up with the repeated threats of extortion. As such, I am likely to bag the votes of railway employees and businessmen in particular.
Besides, the womenfolk, too are rallying behind me," she claimed. The total number of candidates for the Danapur seat is seven this time.
This includes two independents. The LJP, the Lok Dal and the BSP, too, have fielded their candidates from here.

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