In Dhod, Third Front leader at centre of talks

In Dhod assembly constituency’s Kasli village, about 25km from Sikar, the election is barely something people could be seen or heard discussing, even with the voting day (Friday) just round the corner.

But the topic does come up when political parties come knocking the people’s doors for votes, when a campaign rally reaches the localities with promises of a better future for the residents. Take Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s sitting legislator, 45-year-old Gordhan Verma, for example. Villagers say he did not come to Kasli “even once” after winning the election in 2013 and was seen for the “first time” last week after the party nominated him earlier that month as its candidate from Dhod.

“We saw him for the first time on Thursday (November 29). But people will vote for the Congress this time and change the government in the state,” said Adil Khan, a local who runs a tea stall. He, however, is also supportive of “farmers’ leader” Pema Ram, 61, the candidate for the Communist Party of India (Marxist), who will be up against BJP’s Verma and the Congress’ Parasram Mordiya, 68, on the seat reserved for the Scheduled Castes.

“Pema Ram is poor and is someone who works for the poor. But he alone can’t get anything done from the government,” the local said of the leader who visited the village on Saturday as part of his campaign. Pema Ram, who was elected to the assembly from this seat in 2008, lost in the previous election, but continues to enjoy support among the economically weaker sections.

OnSaturdayafternoon,hewas flanked by his supporters and welcomed with garlands and safa (turban) to the dais to address the people gathered there.

“People ask me how I would stand against Congress’s candidate who is a millionaire. I tell them that Pema Ram may be poor, but the way (former Dhod legislator and former All India Kisan Sabha president) Amra Ram and I have led the agitations for the farmers and the labourers, people know me well and will support us,” the CPI(M) leader said.

He said the Congress may be making promises of waiving farmers’ loan “within 10 days” of coming to power “but it is certain that the BJP and the Congress will lose”. “The third front will form the government,” he claimed, referring to a grouping of six political parties that have come together to represent what is known as the United Democratic Front. Besides the CPI(M), the front includes the Samajwadi Party, the Janata Dal (Secular), the CPI, the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) and the Marxist Communist Party of India (United).

KASLI (SIKAR):