BENGALURU: Can you bribe a voter, especially a woman, with a pressure cooker? Well, this time around, candidates cutting across party lines have placed orders for this item at various manufacturing units in Bengaluru.
If cash and liquor can attract male voters, then cookers and saris will definitely woo female votes, a Congress party worker says. “Cooker is an essential item in every woman’s kitchen. It is long lasting and the gesture touches the heart of women. Since money is flowing, let people also get a part of it. Most parties are concentrating on distributing not only cookers but also cooking stoves, tawas, mixers and of course saris and small jewellery pieces.”
In fact, manufacturing units and workers in Peenya Industrial Area in Bengaluru have been working overtime to meet orders from political parties. Being the hub of small scale manufacturing units, many entrepreneurs received orders worth crores for production of pressure cookers between January and March.
Work started a month ago, says Satish from the industrial area. “Orders for manufacture of pressure cookers in Peenya Industrial Area were placed nearly 20 days ago. Production was going on at top gear. Consignments worth `9 crore have already been sent to parties. In fact, all parties - BJP, Congress and JD(S) - placed orders for manufacture of 2 lakh pieces. Each cooker was priced between `400 and `450.”
Some cooker boxes were even embossed with pictures of candidates and then sent to various districts, Satish adds.
A cooker manufacturer in Peenya told The New Indian Express that he has already dispatched 12-14 batches of cookers to be distributed in Mysuru, Mandya, Bengaluru Rural and other areas.
Further, a company source informed, “Each cooker is unbranded, is worth `500 to `550 and with a capacity of 5-7 litres. More than 15 lakh cookers worth Rs 1.8 crore have been sent to the area specified by the political party. Each batch holding 2,500-3,000 cookers has been sent out. In fact, our owner says this is nothing but doing our part for the nation.”