Two Rajkot villages queue up to get even

Unlike Lakhapar, the long queues in Sardhar village under Rajkot Rural constituency were at the polling booth today. But it was to vote with...

Unlike Lakhapar, the long queues in Sardhar village under Rajkot Rural constituency were at the polling booth today. But it was to vote with a vengeance, an expression of people power sparked off by a power shortage.

Groundnut farmers in this village of 20,000 have seen an average yield for three years because of a severe power crisis. ‘‘We receive drinking water every alternate day, but the BJP cannot take the credit,’’ said Nilesh Virani, a farmer. Sardhar gets its supply from a 40-year-old pond. ‘‘And they had promised us Narmada water.”

Even the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), the farmers’ wing of the RSS, is unhappy with the government. BMS president of Rajkot taluka, Manshukh Sarviya, said: ‘‘The present leadership has let us down. Earlier, I never used to think twice before casting my vote for the BJP, now it’s no longer the same.’’

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Men and women were seen thronging the polling booth to exercise their right to franchise. Some enthusiastic voters did not mind the hour-long wait. According to Haresh Savaliya, people are more interested in voting this time as nobody is happy with the ruling party.

Seventy-year-old Bhimjibhai Koil, who waited for more than 75 minutes, said: ‘‘I don’t mind waiting because I want the right person to be elected.’’

‘‘If we can elect them, we can remove them as well,’’ said another villager, Lakhiben Vimjibhai.