In biggest LS constituency,Congress climbing on candidate’s corporate ladder

The entire Tandon family has been associated with Mukesh Ambani. While Annu Tandon’s husband is a consultant for Reliance Industries Limited (though not its employee,she points out),her two sons are also employed with the RIL. She herself had been the managing director of MoTech Software Pvt Limited,promoted by Ambani. She is a trustee and honorary treasurer of the Observer Research Foundation,a think-tank.

Though a political greenhorn,whose candidature was said to have the backing of Rahul Gandhi,51-year-old Tandon has managed to raise hopes about the Congress’s prospects in a constituency that has not elected a candidate from the party in the last two decades. In 2004,the Congress candidate polled a mere 90,000 votes here.

Unnao is the biggest constituency in the country in terms of the size of the electorate — 19 lakh. It was earlier represented by BSP leader Brajesh Pathak who was elected to the Rajya Sabha last November. Pathak wanted his wife to succeed him,but party chief Mayawati fielded Arun Shankar Shukla aka Anna,instead. With Brahmins comprising 20 per cent of the electorate and Dalits constituting a sizeable chunk,the BSP’s game plan in Unnao is easy to guess.

The Samajwadi Party has once again fielded former MP and sitting MLA Deepak Kumar in a constituency where the Lodh community has a strength of over 2 lakh and is also home to a significant minority population.

Given the way politics in this Hindi heartland works along caste lines,the BSP and the SP appear to have an advantage,but the Congress candidate has certainly enlivened the contest,with her meetings and roadshows drawing impressive crowds.

There are several notice boards at Tandon’s residence,one displaying the Congress manifesto,another detailing her schedule for the day,yet another displaying the mobile numbers of important party functionaries.

In November 2007,when she decided to take a plunge into electoral politics,the Congress was in a shambles in Unnao with no presence at the grassroots level. Even booth committees were non-existent. In fact,even today,the District Congress Committee office at Unnao bears a deserted look. However,Tandon made an effort to change this,starting by recruiting people who were once Congress workers but not in the party’s formal organisational setup. This way,she has developed her own network of workers — three to five people in every booth,a group of 15 to 20 in every gram sabha,a team of at least five in every nyaya panchayat and 15 people in every block. They comprise the core of Tandon’s campaign staff. Besides,Tandon’s Hriday Narain Dhawan Charitable Trust has “thousands of volunteers”,at least one in every village.

Although Tandon owns crores worth of assets,she denied using money in developing this network. “At best I reimburse their expenses. The Congress always had strong grassroots workers,but some had lost interest in party affairs. Once I hit the streets talking about the Congress’s achievements and splashed the town with posters,they started coming out. I had to wake them up,” she said.

Her ‘team’ has the entire day planned to precision. Last Wednesday,she revisited Safipur,a small township located around 30 km from Unnao town,after her advisers pointed out that she had missed a particular locality during her previous trip. At every point she stopped,one of her team members would introduce her to prominent people like former village headmen or other influential members of the community. Her common refrain during election meetings: “I can only promise you that I will be with you to ensure a better life for us and for our next generation.”

While her rivals have been visiting fire-affected villages and going to the homes of families struck by some tragedy,Tandon keeps away. “I have been going to them before elections and I will go to them after elections. I don’t want to do it while the elections are on just for votes. And people know that,” she said.

Candidates

• Annu tandon,Congress

• Ramesh kumar,bjp

• Arun shankar shukla ‘anna’,BSP

• Deepak kumar,Samajwadi Party

BACK STORY

2004 Brajesh Pathak,BSP

1999 Deepak Kumar,SP

1998 Devi Bux Singh,BJP

1996 Devi Bux Singh,BJP

1991 Devi Bux Singh,BJP