Factional feud kept parties busy

MAHARASHTRA POLLS

The electoral battle for Mumbai took off in earnest on October 6, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived in the city to interact with Congress workers and industry big wigs, the buzz on the street, however, hardly got louder.

"Mumbai streets were barricaded only once, when Microsoft chairman Bill Gates arrived a couple of years ago, that is what makes the city tick," said Anil Ramkrishnan, a stock broker at the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The sentiment also reflects the nature of the campaign during the 2004 Assembly elections in the state, mainly that it is business as usual not just in the commercial capital of the country but in the whole state.

"This time the elections have not just been without any major issues, but also reflect the fact that major parties are too busy setting their own houses in order rather than give their all to the contest," said Shivaji Kadam, a voter in Mumbai.

While Shiv Sena leaders spent more time fending off questions on the succession issue between the Thackeray cousins Uddhav and Raj, their allies, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) still had to consciously live down the disaster of the "India Shining" campaign during the Lok Sabha polls.

"Pramod Mahajan was at the local dhabha and had tea with the workers," said Vijay Patil, secretary of the Latur BJP unit, when asked what the party campaign would focus on.

Not that the Congress-NCP was any better, what with rebels threatening to upset the apple cart especially in Satara and Mumbai.

Infighting was never far from the surface, the biggest news about the first Sonia Gandhi-Sharad Pawar joint rally in Vidarbha was that Chhagan Bhujhbal, a senior NCP leader never showed up. "There is a big question mark over the future of the NCP," said a Congress worker.

The Congress itself has been racked by speculations as to who would be the next chief minister. Apart from Chief Minister SK Shinde, former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, the names of education czar Patang Rao Kadam and MPCC chief Prabha Rau are making the rounds.

The only ones with a mission seem to be arch rivals Mayawati of the BSP (fighting on all 288 seats) and Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party (fighting on 95 seats). Even if they do not win big, they are glad that they will spoil someone's victory party. As Vilasrao Shivle, a textile merchant in Solapur, said: "Drought could have been an issue, but then it rained."