Ever since the countdown for the presidential poll began, time came to a standstill in the nondescript village of Chhoti Losal in Rajasthan.
The restless moments however ended with the announcement of results.The residents of Chhoti Losal were jubilant.
With Pratibha Patil finally getting elected as the first woman President of the country, it’s celebration time in Chhoti Losal, which happens to be the village of her in-laws, while a few kilometres away, the mood in Bhairon Singh Shekhawat’s native place Khachariawas was obviously not upbeat.
Celebrations at the hitherto unknown village, that suddenly hogged headlines after the UPA announced Ms Patil as its official nominee for the president’s post, began on Saturday morning. As the result was a foregone conclusion, given the numbers in her favour, the villagers burst fire crackers, applied gulal on each other’s faces and danced on the folk tunes throughout the day.
The election of the village’s Dadisa (grandma) has generatedgreat hopes among the locals. They are already dreaming of a facelift of their village with sound educational institutions, hospitals and approach roads.
Smiles galore
Along with every resident of the village, everyone at the Congress office at the state capital also wears a smile. The state capital has seen some activity after a long time. Ms Patil had become Governor of Rajasthan on November 8, 2004. Though her tenure remained non-controversial, her election campaign for presidency was hogged by controversies. Apart from the allegations of financial impropriety levelled against her, her reported and later denied statements on purdah system in Rajasthan and her reported interaction with the spirit of a dead Guru in Mount Abu marred the decorum of the campaign.
It was a coincidence that the election for the 13th president of the country was a contest between two candidates associated with Rajasthan, that too with the Shekhawati region. Both Chhoti Losal and Khachariawas are located in Sikar district. Incidentally, it was a Shekhawat vs. Shekhawat battle. While one claimed to be the don of the soil, the other claimed to be the daughter-in-law of the region.
The family of Ms Pratibha Patil’s educationist husband Devi Singh Shekhawat, had migrated to Amravati region in Maharashtra about a century ago.
