Though located almost on the border, a large number of people in this semi-arid district are indifferent to the BJP's victory march on Kargil. Interestingly, few have heard about Kargil; and those who have don't see a link between the victory and the BJP.

Ask a group of shepherds sitting in a clearing near Ghaduli village in Lakhpat, as their sheep and goats graze on a landscape dotted with the hardy gando baval plant, and the response is: ``Kargil what? Where?''

``I really have no idea. We are poor shepherds; how do we know what is going on outside this area?'' says Bhasu Ibrahim Raima, ashe opens a tin pot to sip water. Sumer Lada Mandhra seems equally bewildered. ``I have heard that some war took place recently somewhere. But you know I am illiterate. I know nothing more than this,'' he says apologetically.

The town is actually an 18th-century fort, whose seaward side is guarded by BSF jawans who scan the marshy creeks looking for any suspicious movements. Even in the town, whose population has shrunk over the years due to exodus to more hospitable places, Kargil is not an overriding issue for the elections. Says Mahesh Thakker, who owns a small provision store: ``Kargil is a victory clinched by the armed forces. I do not see why political parties should take credit for it.''

In Bhachau town, mid-way between the district headquarters of Bhuj and Lakhpat, the scanty rainfall is more important than Kargil. ``Who cares for Kargil here?'' asks Pratapji Sodha, looking heavenward. ``This is not the first time there has been a war between India and Pakistan.'' A group of men joins theconversation. ``In Kutch, we are more concerned about rain and getting two meals a day than ladai (war),'' says Mohanji Sodha.

This is an area where rival political parties are yet to carry out their propaganda on Kargil. ``We might vote for the BJP because Vajpayee is a good man. To us, Kargil has little meaning here,'' says Sodha.

As one gets closer to Bhuj, though, one hears of Kargil more often. ``We are so close to the border. How can we not get affected by what happened in Kargil?'' asks Paresh Shah, who owns an ice-cream parlour in Bhuj. However, Shah believes the credit for the Kargil victory goes to the armed forces. ``Why is the BJP trying to cash in on the win?'' he protests.

A group of youth near a telephone booth on Station Road in Bhuj is busy discussing the elections. ``I think the focus of this election is the Vajpayee-versus-Sonia fight,'' says Hemant Thakker, a gangling college-going youth, who is puffing away at a cigarette. What about Kargil? ``No, no. It is not that important. Thereal issue is whether we want Atalji as Prime Minister or a foreigner,'' he says.

In the crowded rehabilitation camp of 1998 cyclone victims on the outskirts of the port city of Gandhidham, the daily wagers are too stifled by the squalor of their makeshift colony to bother about Kargil. Says Mena C. Jelia, a woman in her mid-40s, while trying to shoo away some pigs from her shanty: ``I have heard about some war, but do not know the place where it took place.''

This must be an eye-opener for the BJP's campaign managers who are counting on Kargil to see them through in these elections.