Dream girl, Gandhi scion pep up campaign

The Telegraph, April 8, 2009

Bhubaneswar, April 7: The scorching summer apart, pre-poll atmosphere heated up in the state as AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi and actor-turned-politician Hema Malini hit the campaign trail.

While Rahul launched his campaign from Rourkela, Hema started from Titlagarh, a western Orissa town. The Congress scion who left his supporters waiting for an hour, went into a fiery speech highlighting on the achievements of the UPA government, especially working with poor, Dalits and tribal communities, while dubbing the BJD government as anti-poor and anti-tribal. He slammed the so-called pro-industry attitude of the government that diverted water meant for irrigation to industries.

He reminded all that BJP’s much hyped India Shining campaign was rejected by the people in 2004 and appealed to the electorate to defeat the BJP yet again and vote the Congress back to power both at the Centre and in the state.

Despite the merciless heat, there was a huge turnout at Rourkela’s Birsa Maidan with a lot of people belonging to the younger generation. Rahul also addressed two rallies at Rairakhole (Sambalpur) and Sonepur.

The youth leader is scheduled to address one more meeting at Baliguda in Kandhamal before winding up his two-day trip at Dharamgarh of Kalahandi tomorrow.

While Rahul was all fired up and political, the dream girl launched her campaign in a Bollywood fashion. “Chal Basanti, yeh teri ijjat ki sawal hai” was her opening line that was received with thunderous applause.

Later, the cine star, who was all smiles despite the heat, appealed to “her people” to vote for BJP and being L.K. Advani to power, rejecting the UPA government and Manmohan Singh, who she called a “rubber stamp” surrounded by people who did not want development.

Hema compared Manmohan Singh to A.B. Vajpayee and touted the latter as the most successful Prime Minister of independent India. “His golden era will be remembered and will be repeated in the regime headed by L.K. Advani,” she promised.

“BJD boss Naveen Patnaik ruled for nine long years thanks to leaders such as Vajpayee and Advani, who gave the governance credibility. Now, Naveen Patnaik will pay for breaking the alliance,” said the BJP MP.

She held the BJD responsible for the murder of Swami Laxmananda Saraswati, and rued government laxity that was preventing the arrest of the murderers even after eight months.

After the political Hema, it was activist Hema who took over as she dwelt on women-related issues such as female foeticide and appealed to the state’s people to oppose such practise.

Hema Malini later moved on to Narla in Kalahandi, Ramgiri in Gajapati and Jatni in Khurda for her whirlwind campaign tour.