Liquor and cash was flowing

On either side of the Yamuna, the Pushta area was awash with country-made liquor and bottles of hooch. A Tata Sumo, and a couple of buses, sporting a Congress flag were seen parked near the railway tracks alongside the Yamuna around 8:30 p.m..

Suddenly a small group gathered outside the jhuggi clusters and handed over boxes of liquor. Across the river one of the `would-be-voters’ was not satisfied. As he protested, a party faithful reassured him that more was in the offing next evening.

It was the same at other jhuggi colonies in theNizamuddin, Tughlak Road and Motia Khan areas. But some other workers chose to offer the same inducements in Arambagh government colony as well.When both the BJP and the Congress workers reached the area at the same time, a heated verbal duel ensued. A man, desperately seeking a bottle, was literally pulled by workers from both sides who promised to get his jailed son freed.

A Congress leader arrived in a white Maruti Esteem and handed over a bundle of notes. Within minutes the situation calmed down.At the vast Lal Bagh jhuggi settlement in Sadar Constituency a group of youths, already high on alcohol, were waiting for the local pradhan to replenish their stocks.

An auto-rickshaw, sporting a BJP flag, arrived with some chicken, and the youths pounced on it. Suddenly, a Tata Sumo emerged from the Azadpur side. It bore a Uttar Pradesh number plate and three men alighted, one of them carrying a plastic bag. He looked around and asked the boys to pick up the stuff from the back.

The man behind the driver’sseat handed over a hundred rupee bundle.The pradhan disappeared into a jhuggi, and some people followed. A man came out, and called some of them, each of whom who returned with a bottle wrapped in a newspaper and a couple of hundred rupee notes.