Strategic snacking
Gujarat snacks are to die for—khakra, fafra, thepla, you name it. At the plush BJP media centre, resembling a TV studio rather than a political party office, endless hot cups of masala tea and tasty Gujarati snacks are the flavour of this election season. In addition, the media crew can lounge around in a huge glass-fronted hall with comfortable sofas and chairs. That the media has been strategically kept away from Kamalam, the state party headquarters in Gandhinagar, where the action is, does not seem to bother the bite-hungry young media.
All the top honchos of BJP, Amit Shah and Arun Jaitley included are in any case descending on the media centre to air their views, between bits of banter and snacking. During one such session, Jaitley was heard musing that the khakras and fafras are the best part of the election duty in Gujarat. The media readily agreed. In comparison, those posted at the old-world Congress office in Ahmedabad, have to wait on the stairs. No free snack or tea, but gossip aplenty.
Sardar, Modi
It does not take much guessing who the Gujarat BJP adulates. From the banner and billboards (well there are not too many) to the walls of the party office and the CM’s residence, it’s Narendra Modi all the way. The other BJP icons have been tucked away from direct vision. Amit Shah does make an appearance here and there, but only occasional.
Significantly, missing is L.K. Advani. Other than Modi, the current favourite of the BJP is Sardar Patel. This hijacking of Patel has left the Congress rather upset. So the GOP in retaliation is flaunting huge portraits of the Mahatma and Sardar Patel. Busts of Sardar have also cropped up in the Congress offices across Gujarat.
Dhirubhai’s haveli
The ancestral haveli of Dhirubhai Ambani stands out in the dusty roads of Chorwad, Saurashtra. This is where the two brothers had called a truce in the presence of the entire clan, a neighbour proudly recounts. The haveli houses the Dhirubhai Memorial, essentially a photo gallery tracing his rise from a humble background to the heights of success, is personally overseen by Kokilaben. She came visiting a day before Modi and Rahul had a face-off in Somnath, the gate-keeper informs. The haveli staffers are all local voters, and awaiting new roads and clean drinking water. As long as Dhirubhai was alive he would spend lakhs every year to ensure his old neighbours don’t go thirsty, but now they have to depend on the MLA.
Missing aide
The Congress is divided on the Somnath episode. While one section is convinced it has helped Rahul Gandhi to squarely scotch ‘motivated’ speculation on his religious identity, the other half thinks the party has walked into a BJP trap. It’s long-held secular position has been diluted. But in the after math of all this debate, Manish Tyagi, the Rahul aide who’s said to have mistakenly written the Congress Vice President’s name in the temple register, is not to be seen in Ahmedabad or anywhere else in the poll-bound state. The Congress though maintains that he never wrote anything anywhere.
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