This dusty Rajasthan town,famous for its starched cotton sarees,finds its electoral niche in its assembly line production of IIT entrants,courtesy the private coaching institutes that have mushroomed all over. Given that there is still no national-level educational institute in the town,both the BJP and Congress are trying to woo the electorate with the promise of establishing an Indian Institute of Technology in Kota itself. The IIT promise has had parties scrambling,jostling for space and credit pictures of either the BJP or Congress candidate loom large next to advertisements for Kotas famed IIT coaching centres. Despite a struggling industrial sector,irrigation and canal woes and the rural electorate outnumbering Kotas urban vote,the pursuit of an IIT remains top of the election agenda. But Kota residents are more realistic. Businessman Rajeev Sinodia says its a battle between two parties who do not care for Kota,neither has any large issue to campaign with in Kota and is only using this IIT dream. He points out that one MP alone is not enough to bring an IIT to a city such as Kota. With no real challenge from the BSP or independents,the poll battle in Kota is between Ijjeyraj Singh,the erstwhile Kota royal scion contesting on a Congress ticket,and Shyam Sharma,a long-time RSS worker and a former PWD engineer who is the BJP nominee. Since both are first-timers,the BJP and Congress poll pitch are largely similar,except on the IIT issue which Sharma has pursued aggressively. All was in place for an IIT in Kota till the UPA stepped in. Since Kota has been a long-time BJP bastion,the UPA behaved like a step-mother and stalled all big projects in the region. But in my campaign,I have promised that I will move heaven and earth to establish an IIT in Kota, Sharma said,pointing out that Kota alone produces more than one-third of the countrys IITians. But Singh claims Kota had not missed the IIT bus. The chapter is not closed and Kota being an education hub deserves an IIT. With the region producing many IIT graduates every year,it is the obvious choice in Rajasthan, he said. His party is not very sure if he will be able to push the IIT agenda wholeheartedly because his primary focus was to make himself known to the voters. He was educated in Columbia,has an absolutely clean image but he joined the party just a few days before the last day for nominations, said a Congress leader. Even the IIT coaching czars the sector is booming with more than 70,000 students enrolled in institutes every year are not very sure if an IIT will come to Kota. P K Bansal from the famed Bansal Coaching centre,which produced 1,609 entrants last year,said,Nothing is final now,it was sanctioned by the Central government but the city is yet to be decided.
