Cong takes cheer from long lines of ticket-seekers

EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 7: They live under trees, on pavements, on platforms and at bus stands. And some day hope to sit in the Assembly of either Uttar Pradesh or Punjab.

These are the ticket-seekers from Congress in these two key states, which would be going to polls in February. And the final resting place is the All India Congress Committee office on Akbar Road where they reach at 8 am and stay till 10 pm.

Surviving on tea and sympathy of other ticket-seekers, they brave the intensifying cold wave to get just a couple of minutes with the leaders in charge of these states.

The tension is palpable with the ‘‘unofficial’’ list of candidates getting leaked once every day, leaving the ticket-seekers on tenter-hooks.

Interestingly, only politicians of small and medium stature are visible in the damp lawns of the AICC, seemingly segregated from other ticket-seekers like the kith and kin of big shots or favourites of the high command.

These local leaders leave their constituencies for Delhi with so much fanfare that they dare not return without knowing their fate. Living in the railway station’s retiring room is a corporator from Lucknow Leena Vikram Singh. She sits huddled on the bench outside AICC. ‘‘I know four other persons wanting to get the seat from Lucknow. My supporters are so hopeful that I cannot leave till I know what has happened.’’

Their reasons for seeking a ticket are also simple. Like, that they live next to Bhindranwale’s village, that they supply drinking water for Congress rallies and that they have never changed sides for the last 50 years.

In most cases, they are aware that all this did not get them any ticket in the last elections. They are also angry that some less deserving candidate was chosen instead. But this is not the season for dissent in the Congress. ‘‘I came here on December 26 and soon after we got time with Sonia Gandhi,’’ says Krishna Kant Pandey. ‘‘But I am still waiting for an ‘interview’ with the leaders in charge of UP,’’ he says.

While almost every senior leader is involved in the ticket distribution in these elections, those in the forefront are N.D. Tewari, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Arjun Singh, Ambika Soni, Moti Lal Vora and Mukul Wasnik.

Early risers get to stand upfront in the long queues that form outside the rooms of these leaders. Even then it takes days for them to get that crucial ‘‘interview’’ with the leaders. This, however, does not take the fun out of the process for them. ‘‘It is like a picnic,’’ says Raminder Singh from Amritsar. ‘‘I am here with my wife and in-laws who have never seen the capital. I also wanted to show them that I could meet senior national leaders personally,’’ he adds.

Kuldip Sharma, another ticket-seeker from Kanpur, says, ‘‘Last night I slept at a bus shelter in south Delhi. And I thought it cannot get worse than this. But today I met people who were not allowed to sleep even in bus shelters by policemen. So I am not feeling too bad,’’ he laughs. Seventy-year-old Lalji Rai seeking ticket from Azamgarh in UP says, ‘‘If I have to go through all this for getting a ticket, I will not be left with any energy to campaign for the elections.’’

Party leaders are happy to see the milling crowds. General secretary in-charge of Punjab Ambika Soni says, ‘‘The fact that thousands of people are thronging the AICC shows how upbeat the party is about the elections.’’ Senior Congress leader R.K. Dhawan points out, ‘‘There are about 10 to 15 people competing for one ticket. There are some 5000 people to be considered for the 370 seats. Obviously, people are very enthusiastic and very disillusioned with other parties.’’