Nov 23, 1998

SNIPPETS

Getting His Goat
Congress rebel Shri Ram Gottewala is a very peeved man.

In 1985 too, I was denied a ticket. I kept quiet. But now things have gone out of hand. For 16 days I tried to meet Sonia Gandhi but could not. I left four messages for Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan PCC chief) but he never called. Then after I filed my papers he called me, asking me to withdraw. I told him, "You finally found the time for me." This from someone whom I brought into the Congress. I have been in the Congress of Indira and Nehru. I was expelled from school in 1946 for joining the Congress. I was so close to Indiraji that every time I visited Delhi, I took her 1 kg of ghewar (a Jaipur speciality). She would first eat a bit before moving on to other things.

In the '80s, I was the only one from Jaipur in Shiv Charan Mathur's cabinet. My heart bleeds when I see these people from Jodhpur (Gehlot and Paras Ram Maderna) take over state politics. I have always fought for Jaipur's share in the PCC. But now they have given a ticket to Mahesh Joshi who is an RSS man. Abrar Ahmed was till recently in the BJP, hurling abuses at the Congress, but they have given a ticket to his wife. And Rama Pilot lost the last elections. But she has been given a ticket because she is Rajesh Pilot's wife. Shivaji Nagar was a desert earlier. Who got your huts regularised? It was I ... (Excerpt from Gottewala's speech at a Jaipur locality.)

Broken Vow

When Ramesh Sabharwal, 34, filed his papers from Delhi's Gole Market constituency as a rebel Congress candidate he had declared that no force on earth could make him withdraw from the race. "My wife has made it clear that if I withdraw from the contest, she will withdraw from my house." He had pitted himself against two heavyweights: the Congress' chief ministerial aspirant Shiela Dixit and the BJP's sitting MLA, former cricketer Kirti Azad. The Congress camp was jittery. But though he had the backing of an influential section of the faction-ridden party, Sabharwal pulled out of the contest last Wednesday. With the husband breaking his vow, what everyone is waiting to see is whether wife Kuljit will follow suit. For the sake of the couple, we hope not.

Family Business in MP

Ajay Singh
Son of former chief minister Arjun Singh, he won from papa's Churhat constituency in 1991. Was soundly thrashed by former chief minister Sunderlal Patwa from Bhojpur in 1993. So it's back to his roots in Churhat this time.

Arun Vora
When former chief minister Motilal Vora got immersed in national politics, Arun contested and won from his father's traditional constituency of Durg and in the process catapulted from student politics to state politics.

Vashodhara Scindia
In February this year, her nomination paper for the Lok Sabha election was rejected since she was a British national. So, Yashodhara -- younger daughter of BJP Vice-President Vijayaraje and sister of Congress General Secretary Madhavrao and Minister of State for External Affairs Vasundhara -- acquired Indian citizenship and enrolled herself as a voter in Shivpuri.

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