Naidu hogs limelight at PM’s Bellary meet

BELLARY, SEPT 1: Wednesday's public meeting at the municipal school grounds here -- addressed by Prime Minister A B Vajpayee -- was a cul...

BELLARY, SEPT 1: Wednesday’s public meeting at the municipal school grounds here — addressed by Prime Minister A B Vajpayee — was a culmination of BJP’s short, yet vociferous, campaign for Sushma Swaraj in a district where the party’s presence had been at the minimal level.

The ground covered by Sushma and her supporters in the constituency, albeit after a late start, was clearly visible. People turned up in large numbers (a policeman put the crowd in the 20,000-plus range). Though all the people who came to the meeting (from outside Bellary town) arrived in arranged vehicles, it was an enthusiastic and vocal gathering.

The crowd in Bellary is a boisterous lot. Ask Vijayashanti, Telugu cinema artiste and star campaigner for the BJP and she will tell you that she would rather face her fans from in front of the camera.

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Assuming that Vijayashanti’s celluloid image was responsible for disrupting the BJP’s election meeting last week, one heaved a sigh of relief over her absence at the Prime Minister’srally on Wednesday.

But the crowd found its new star: not Sushma, not even Prime Minister A B Vajpayee, but Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu hogged all the attention. TDP has no presence outside Andhra Pradesh, and yet, TDP supporters turned up in large numbers. Among the BJP’s `lotus’ flags and JD (U)’s `arrow’ flags, TDP’s `cycle’ seemed omnipresent. The large Telugu population in Bellary seemed to have descended at the rally.

Even as the Prime Minister was speaking, TDP supporters and the local Telugu-speaking population screamed out for Naidu (though Naidu had completed his speech). Not even when Vajpayee read out a few words in Kannada, did the crowd calm down. Early last week, the crowd — eager to listen to Sushma Swaraj’s Kannada — shouted down JD (U) leader Ramakrishna Hegde in the midst of his speech.

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