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A bagful of grains makes the difference

By Sunny Sebastian

UDAIPUR NOV. 25. The president of the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee(I), Girija Vyas, has expressed confidence that her party would return to power with a comfortable majority after the elections. Talking to The Hindu on a day the City of Lakes witnessed a rally addressed by the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, on Monday, Dr.Vyas exuded confidence that the party would do well in Mewar region as well.

"The Congress Government in Rajasthan has done a lot of work in the past five years. Our expectations of doing well in the elections are based on the twin issues of development and successful drought relief work,'' said Dr. Vyas, a Lok Sabha MP from Udaipur.

"We are comparing the BJP's eight years in power here with the five years of the Congress. We have fulfilled all promises made to the people at the time of the 1998 elections. What is more, none of the BJP bigwigs had turned up at the time of drought in the State,'' Dr. Vyas said. The Opposition, she added, was left without any issue against the Congress in the current elections.

Dr. Vyas took umbrage at the fact that the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in his recent election meetings in the State referred to Rajasthan as a BIMARU State. "At least the Prime Minister of this country should have known that Rajasthan has come out of the BIMARU status,'' she said rueing the fact that for political purposes BJP leaders preferred to feign ignorance.

Dr. Vyas ruled out the impact of the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, and the scion of the Dungarpur royal family, Raj Singh Dungarpur -- who recently joined the BJP -- in the current elections in the Mewar region. Dr. Vyas did not say it in many words but the Congress confidence seems to come partly also from the bagful of grains -- provided during drought relief -- still acting as solid deposits of people's goodwill for the Congress.

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