By George Joseph, IANS,
Meerut : Charu Chaudhary, the wife of Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leader Jayant Chaudhary, was the cynosure of all eyes at the Ramlila Ground in Meerut as the crowds waited impatiently for Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi to arrive for the Congress-RLD rally here Thursday.
Charu Chaudhary, dressed in salwar-kameez and a dupatta covering her head, sat along with other women activists in the women’s enclosure. As lensmen clicked, women reporters rushed for interviews and a large number of people gathered around the enclosure to get a view of the bahu of the Ajit Singh clan.
Party insiders say the Delhi-born Charu, a mother of two daughters, has been supporting Jayant Chaudhary in his career, though she has not taken to active politics. But politics is not alien to the women in the family, as Gayatri Devi, wife of Charan Singh, was an MP, they added.
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If anything became a whipping topic in the speeches of the leaders of Congress and RLD at the rally, it was the statues of Mayawati and her electoral symbol elephant erected in various parks of the state.
“Can these statues of her fill the stomachs of the hungry masses of the state or give jobs to the unemployed youth,” asked Jayant Chaudhary.
“While Uttar Pradesh has 44 percent of people below poverty line, Mayawati had the arrogance to spend Rs.800 crore for her statues,” said P.L. Punia, a former aide of Mayawati.
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The historic importance of Meerut, which was where the first shot was fired in the first war of independence in 1857 (when Indian soldiers rebelled against the British rulers), was invoked by all speakers from Rahul Gandhi to Ajit Singh. “Meerut is now becoming the launching pad of another struggle,” Congress leader Mohan Prakash said.
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The new alliance of Congress and RLD has brought former foes and bitter rivals on the same plank, and on posters and banners. Many posters had Ajit Singh’s father Charan Singh and Rahul Gandhi’s grandmother Indira Gandhi – both former prime ministers but bitter rivals – portrayed as the patron leaders of the alliance.
There are no permanent enemies in politics, a local pundit explained to the media.
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One thing the Uttar Pradesh Congress has got right is its poll song “Utho, Jaago, Badalo Uttar Pradesh” (Arise, awake, change Uttar Pradesh). Youngsters found it the right note to dance to. The song is on the lines of the popular “Jai Ho” of A.R. Rahman.