Mercury rising,Chhote Vajpayee feels poll heat

Harin Pathak is seeking voters mandate for the seventh time. The six-time MP is not a favourite with Chief Minister Narendra Modi....

Harin Pathak is seeking voters mandate for the seventh time. The six-time MP is not a favourite with Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his candidature was on the chopping block just like that of another six-time MP,Kashiram Rana. However,Pathaks close association with BJPs prime ministerial candidate L K Advani helped him wrest the partys nomination,which had almost gone in favour of former revenue minister Kaushik Patel. Besides,Pathak being persuasive with the Delimitation Commissioner in Ahmedabad in June 2006 to retain his constituency as a general seat also went in his favour.

However,more than the opposition within the party,what is bothering this Ahmedabad (East) candidate is the rising mercury that can compel voters to remain indoors. Everywhere,Pathak advises party workers to ensure that voters are out of their homes before 8 am and that at least 40 per cent voting is complete before 11 am.

A schoolteacher prior to becoming a full-time politician,Pathak is known for his oratory,so much so that he is called Chhote Vajpayee. He rose from being a councillor to minister of state for Home during the NDA rule.

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Braving the heat,he,along with his son-in-law Shyam and an armed escort,are busy covering all the 1,400 booths in his constituency,listening to voters grievances regarding various civic issues.

Pathaks PR skills are phenomenal. He scans obituary columns in local newspapers on a daily basis and sends condolence messages to bereaved families. He also sends New Year greetings to people in his constituency. I send 90,000 messages on an average,every year, he says.

The issues close to his heart are shifting the Western Railway headquarters to Ahmedabad and renaming the city as Karnavati. But he is yet to taste success on both fronts.

While Ahmedabad city is a traditional BJP bastion,Pathak is not resting on his past laurels,even though his Congress rival Dipak Babariya is being considered a lightweight.

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At Janta Nagar near Ramol on the southern outskirts of Ahmedabad,a residential backyard becomes party venue with barely hundred party workers assembling there. The poor presence is attributed to men going for work to factories. Villages are different from cities. Here,the mukhia tells the residents whom to vote for, Pathak says.

At New Vatva,he says in a jocular vein,Your bhabhi will be happy if I lose. She has reasons to complain if I get elected,as I will not get time for even an outing to Kankaria Lake.

What will happen if I lose? I will sulk for a few days and then things will be normal again, he philosophises,away from the crowd. But why this pessimism? The heat will not let most voters come out of their homes. We have to work hard to see them come out early to get a good margin, he adds.