Congress president Sonia Gandhi, on the other hand, was unfortunate enough to have missed the date with the over-excited Aligarh crowds a day before --even though the chopper carrying her landed barely 20 kilometers away. Advantage BJP? But people of Aligarh themselves warn not to jump to conclusions by the number of awed spectators who, after all, ``may have come to see the helicopter and not its VIP occupant.''

``It's not every day that you seeit descending on the town.'' This is how Subhash Yadav, a self-proclaimed Congressman who had sauntered into `numaish maidan' just to see ``how the people are behaving'' dubbed the reception accorded to Vajpayee.

Though denied the privilege of using `numaish maidan' for the rally -- the town's largest ground, it had already been sanitised by the SPG for Vajpayee's visit -- Sonia tried to make the most of the situation. She drove through some of Aligarh's bylanes in an open car and cheered back at people waving at her. A few of them, mostly Congress functionaries, managed to come near her.

Still smarting under the jolt of not being able to behave like a benefactor in a place known primarily for its sizable Muslim population, Sonia drove on to the edge of the town. The local Congress leaders did manage some sort of a crowd outside the guest-house where she had put up for the afternoon. But by then, Sonia probably knew this was not her day in Aligarh. She made a hasty exit, leaving behind an anguishedCongress candidate Usha Rani Tomar and her supporters.

Vajpayee, BJP's Shiela Gautam (if she wins, this will be her fourth consecutive victory from this Parliamentary constituency) and a host of party leaders, however, were an elated lot today in Aligarh.

If at all there was discomfiture, it was writ large on the faces of police officials. The enormity of their task can be gauged from the fact that policemen from as many as 20 adjoining districts were pressed into service to oversee smooth passage of Vajpayee's show in Aligarh.

Exasperation was also evident among a large number of cops, even those from Rapid Action Force (RAF), who were stationed here since Sonia's arrival. Many of them lamented that the two ``VIP duties'' within 24-hours had left them physically drained.

The actual position of the top players for Aligarh is still hidden in a smoke-screen, but reports suggests that Samajwadi Party's Sunil Singh who, of late, emerged as a dark horse, still holds an ace or two up his sleeves. Elsewherein UP, Muslims may have been fed up with both the SP or the BSP, but in Aligarh the story is a bit different. While in Aligarh (falling under Kol Assembly segment), Muslims fill about one-third of the voters list, their influence is not much in the remaining four constituencies of Atroli (Chief Minister Kalyan Singh's domain), Baroli, Iglas and Kher.