Campaign focus shifts to urban Kota

KOTA: After finishing their intensive election campaign in rural areas of Kota and Bundi districts, the Congress and BJP candidates have now diverted their attention towards urban areas. Both Ijjeyaraj Singh of Congress and Shyam Sharma of BJP have started meeting city voters personally along with their party workers.
Shyam Sharma of BJP seems to be one step ahead in comparison to his rival Ijjeyaraj Singh of Congress in campaign.But this delay on the part of the Congress is because it declared the name of its candidate for the Kota-Bundi parliament seat late. BJP declared its candidate in the first week of March whereas Congress declared Ijjeyaraj Singh as its candidate on April 10.
Even Sharma could not start his election campaign immediately after the declaration of his name by the party high command. This was because some of the senior party leaders and important party workers were against his candidature and it took some time to pacify them.
Sharma along with Om Birla, MLA from Kota (South) continued his election campaign on Tuesday in the Kota (south) constituency and on Wednesday he was accompanied by Bhawani Singh Rajawat in Ladpura constituency.
A few of Sharma's close associates of Shyam Sharma complained that both Birla and Rajawat are not actively participating in Sharma's campaign, but both of them denied the allegations. "We were always with the BJP and we are with the party even today. It will be wrong to say that we are leaving any stone unturned for the party's victory", they stated.
Ijjeyaraj Singh, member of the former royal family and princely state, has a good reputation among the voters. During his election campaign in rural areas, his charisma played a powerful role in wooing the voters. Besides his neat and clean image is also playing a vital role.
A great feeling of enthusiasm could be seen in the villagers during his visits. His wife Kalpana Devi also accompanied him during his campaign in rural areas which was an added advantage to him. He has studied at Mayo College, Ajmer and has got an MBA from New York. When he interacts with the voters in a Hadoti dialect, people listen to him very carefully and get impressed with his dialogues.
Last week, in the first phase, he campaigned in some parts of the Ladpura assembly seat constituency. This week he has been campaigning intensively in the urban area of Kota (south) Assembly constituency. Prior to this, on Wednesday he participated in a road-show in old and new Kota city.
This road show of Ijjeyaraj was shocking for the BJP in a way. When he reached the Kathunipole area, Shrikrishna Birla, father of Om Birla, BJP MLA from Kota (south), garlanded Ijjeyaraj Singh and offered him sweets. Moreover, he surprised people standing nearby by saying, "Maharav Ummed Singh, Ijjeyaraj's great grandfather had done a lot of developmental work for the city. Maharav Bheem Singh, Ijjeyaraj's grandfather also helped the Indian government financially."