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Gujral digs up his Punjabi roots to charm Jalandar crowd

Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral devoted considerable time to popularise the Janata Dal symbol, the wheel, during the third leg of his campaign in the Jalandar Lok Sabha constituency.

The last time the symbol was in prominence was when Gujral won the seat as the candidate of the anti-Bharatiya Janata Party front in 1989.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee president G S Tohra accompanied the prime minister on the first two days of his five-day round which concluded on Monday.

Gujral's crowded schedule was meticulously chalked out to enable him to interact with various interest groups and make a dent in the Congress's urban stronghold.

In order to increase his visibility, he gave up the officious Ambassador car for a large glass-panelled bulletproof Tata Sierra.

His two sons, Naresh and Vishal, also hit the campaign trail. They travelled separately to cover the entire constituency.

The prime minister has covered all the nine assembly segments of his constituency in three phases, lasting a total of nine days.

Party sources said the final round of his campaign, beginning February 11, would last at least three days.

Besides a thorough Congress-bashing for felling his government on 'a non-issue', the Jain Commission's interim report and the politics of apologising for the Babri Masjid demolition, Operation Blue Star and anti- Sikh violence, Gujral played to the crowd by repeatedly emphasising on his Punjabi roots and the largesse he showered on the state in general and Jalandar in particular.

He claimed that as communications minister he brought India's first STD telephone service to Jalandar, as information and broadcasting minister India's first television station there, and as Union housing minister got sanctioned a loan for the Gujral colony.

The prime minister also latched on to his parents's contribution to community service in the city. His mother Pushpa, he reminded, was twice a member of the Jalandar municipal committee and the city corporation.

During his pre-election visit, he had dedicated the town hall to her memory. The Science City on Jallandar-Kapurthala road, too, has been named after Pushpa. A school adjacent to Nari Niketan, founded by Gujral's parents to shelter refugee women from Pakistan during Partition, is named after his father.

UNI

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