Now, BJP's Bhagora promises IIT to garner votes in Udaipur

His waving of currency notes inside Parliament last year made the country glued to the television screen but BJP candidate Mahavir Singh Bhagora has to display more this time to ensure that Udaipur looks up to him.      

Bhagora had exhibited the notes to allege that he was bribed to vote in favour of the Manmohan Singh government, which was facing a no-confidence motion in July last year. But this time the opposition is different and quite overt.      

The BJP leader is locked in an electoral battle with Congress nominee Raghuveer Singh Meena for the polls on May 7 and is already feeling the delimitation heat.      

Udaipur's new status as an ST seat paved the way for the candidacy of both Bhagora and Meena, who are fighting from here for the first time.      

National Commission for Women chairperson Girija Vyas, who had won the seat three times between 1991 and 1999, is now contesting from Chittorgarh while BJP's Kiran Maheshwari, who had defeated Vyas in 2004, has shifted to Ajmer.      

On his part, Bhagora has already promised voters to set up an IIT here and bring the Mewar water project to Udaipur.      

"To set up an IIT is my priority so that our youth can get quality technical education. The industrial sector, too, needs some reforms and I will try hard to bring required funds from the Centre and the state for its development," he said.

Bhagora had also some promises to make on local issues. "I will bring the Mewar water project here and will work for the uplift of tribal people. During our regime, drinking water and electricity problems were solved and I will work to improve the situation further," he said.      

However, he faces a tough task as six of the eight assembly segments of the Udaipur Lok Sabha seat are held by the Congress while the BJP has captured only two. Bhagora had won the last elections from Salumbar, which ceased to exist after the delimitation of constituencies.      

For Congress nominee Meena, setting up an IIT and an IIM, developing the tourism sector and generating job opportunities for the youth remain priorities.      

"I have made my priorities clear for the region. The first one is to set up an IIT and an IIM so as to provide technical and managerial education to the youth. This will help them get good jobs," Meena told PTI.      

"The second one is to raise the literacy level by opening more schools for primary education. To develop the tourism sector for employment generation and job-based education structure remain other priorities," Meena said.      

Not just this, Meena promised to connect the Udaipur highway with that of Ahmedabad.

Both the candidates claim they were given tickets not on the basis of their caste but due to the development work undertaken by them and clean image.      

"Our roots are from here and everyone knows about this," said Meena.      

"Now people vote for development and not on the basis of castes," Bhagora explained.      

The historic capital of the former kingdom of Mewar, Udaipur has seen many political heavyweights of the state fighting from here in the past.      

Former Chief Minister Mohan Lal Sukhadia contested from here in 1980 and was elected as an MP. His wife Indubala Sukhadia got elected in 1984. Home Minister in the Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government Gulab Chand Kataria contested in 1989 and won.      

The constituency with eight assembly segments has 15.62 voters.