Sari shrouds the Lucknow red carpet for Vajpayee

BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan, reached over phone from New Delhi, said Ahluwalia had been drafted for campaign work in Lucknow. But he said it was ‘‘absolutely false’’ to say that Ahluwalia had been appointed Vajpayee’s election agent. ‘‘I took the decision to depute Ahluwalia to Lucknow for the campaign a week ago. It has nothing to do with the present (stampede) incident,’’ Mahajan told The Indian Express.

The PM, on his part, did not say anything that Tandon’s detractors would love to hear. Speaking in Bangalore before leaving for Lucknow, Vajpayee, while defending the distribution of saris, dismissed suggestions that the incident had dented his image.

‘‘Nothing wrong in distribution of saris. Every year saris have been distributed there,’’ Vajpayee said, adding ‘‘this time something happened and it is unfortunate… It is a great tragedy, we are mourning it, but elections cannot wait.’’

And stampede victim Kalawati’s family also realised today that elections can’t wait.

Their home, the only mud house in Baba Purva locality in Khadra, was full of mourners yesterday. But today, barring her three sons, there was none to grieve for the 60-year-old who perished in the stampede. Everyone was preparing for the PM’s trip.

Sullen, Kalawati’s sons said it made no difference to them if people chose not to show up. There was a deathly silence in the house. The only sound you could hear was the buzz of flies in the open drains outside. These were meant to be cleaned under the Gomti Action Plan.

Compensation announced for the kin of victims was also put on hold. Lalji Tandon’s office claimed that permission had been sought from the Election Commission to release the money. ‘‘We are trying our best to help. We have even asked one of the workers to go to Kanpur and fetch the victim’s daughter,’’ said Tandon’s aide.

While some Opposition parties issued statement seeking cancellation of the PM’s nomination and Tandon’s arrest, few cared to walk the road to Kalawati’s home.

Just a few kilometres away, a security drill was on for the PM’s arrival. Nearly 90 per cent of the police force — the SSP included — had been deployed. No one seemed interested in the stampede follow-up action. ‘‘Couple of raids’’ and a ‘‘team has been set-up’’ was the only response to queries on the progress of the case.

And at the Mahanagar thana — it’s 500 metres from the Chandra Shekhar Azad Park where the stampede took place — one realised how casual the whole police approach was: only one raid had been conducted on the incident night and no team had been created so far.

The officer in charge of investigation was of the rank of a senior sub-inspector. A note was being prepared by the officer on duty on the possible list of questions on the status of the park. Barring 10 constables, the police station was deserted.

The District Magistrate and the SSP were busy preparing for the PM’s arrival. They also had to find time to set in in motion the electoral process. Election observers are already camping in the city.

The BJP too was preparing for the big day tomorrow. There was no time to mourn for the dead any longer. A new regional office was being readied for Vajpayee and the organisational structure was also being strengthened.

For the BJP, there’s another task on hand: lift party morale now that the stampede has upset the ‘‘feel good’’ factor. For the record though, the party maintains that ‘‘this was an unfortunate tragedy but we are not responsible’’ (With Pradeep Kaushal in New Delhi)