Voices from the field: Maya confidante, now Cong man

February 08, 2012 11:20

All the excitement, all the action, live from UP only on rediff.com.

Our correspondent, Sheela Bhatt who is in Barabanki, UP says the temperature at a chilly 10 C and rain, seems to have spoilt the mood of Pannalal Punia, a Congress leader and chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. He was entrusted with the job of overseeing 85 reserved constituencies or what is called Mission 85.

However, when he came to vote, there were hardly any voters around.

Punia said the Congress expects to win and once the rains stop, people would would come out to vote.

Punia, incidentally, was Mayawati's confidante, while serving in the government but joined the Congress after he retired and even gave evidence against Mayawati in the Taj corridor scam.

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