In the land where Ashok Gehlot scored his biggest victory in the run-up to these elections by arresting Pravin Togadia, drains and pipelines are the only thing that anybody is interested in. Trishuls and Togadia just don’t matter, much to the disappointment of both the Congress and the BJP.The BJP has tried hard, bringing in their “Hindutva hero” Narendra Modi to campaign in the area, trying to explain how banning the trishul was an attack on their basic rights. And so has the Congress, with constant reminders to the people that Gehlot was the ‘‘only brave man to take on Togadia and ensure that he tones down his speeches.’’ For both, it isn’t working.‘‘We need drains and that is all there is to it,’’ says Alka Chauhan, as she mans the reception of Khadim Hotel. ‘‘I have grown up in this city which just doesn’t have a proper drainage system. Elections have come and gone, promises made and broken, now my patience has run out.’’With a population of over 21 lakh, the city’s cramped roads and “non-existent” drainage system have broken the barrier of old issues and become a talking point in these elections. Across the city, while the BJP and Congress work out the caste equations, on the streets, they only want drains.‘‘Also pipelines,’’ says Krishan Kumar, a waiter at the hotel. ‘‘Every second day one of them bursts and we brace ourselves for a water shortage. It takes the authorities three to four days to fix it. This city is all about bad pipelines.’’The ‘‘Togadia impact’’ is not working in the adjoining marble township of Kishangarh either. A small little town where everything is about marble, all that seems to matter is roads. Sitting at the autorickshaw stand, Ganesh Shahu is trying hard to ignore the loud speech being made by a Congressman at a nearby shop. ‘‘He is talking about 50 years of Congress and Gehlot’s achievements,’’ says Shahu. ‘‘But he is totally ignoring the tiny lane, which is actually a main road, outside the shop. That’s the real problem.’’‘‘Electricity has been a big problem throughout,’’ says Kanshi Lal, a 55-year-old farmer from Bharatpur. ‘‘Farmers have had a tough time. First there was the drought.’’ In a region where water is always in short supply, Lal says his family of 12 had to struggle to ensure their fields were irrigated properly. The bottomline is that today in Bharatpur, candidates who talk about better power and water supply have an edge. ‘‘The voters are not saying anything but they are carefully weighing their options,’’ says Lal.Across the state, it is being described as an ‘‘issueless election’’ where the only thing that will count is the people. A number of candidates who have wisened up to this fact are only talking ‘‘vikas politics.’’In Alwar, Congress candidate Jitender Singh promises to lure the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to modernise the city. ‘‘This time we will lobby for an ADB loan for Awar also,’’ the ‘‘prince’’ tells his voters. ‘‘Like Jaipur and Jodhpur, Alwar will also have a good network of roads, better infrastructure. Another priority will be developing this place as a tourism centre, wooing travellers who turn back frm Sariska.’’Miles away, in Udaipur these polls are all about getting the Mansi-Vakkal water project on road. BJP’s leader of oppositon Gulab Singh Kataria woos Udaipur voters by promising that his priority will be to get the Mansi-Vakkal drinking water project started, besides putting the extension of the broad-guage line to Udaipur on the fast track.In Jaipur again, it is about drinking water for the BJP and “good development work” for the Congress. ‘‘We have a right to ask for your vote because we have done so such development,’’ Sachin Pilot told a gathering near Jaipur, extending the Congress campaign line of development in the times of drought. They have all realised that development is the word that works.
