Kashi keeps contenders on the edge

 Top leaders of the BJP and the SP-Congress alliance may have unleashed a campaign blitzkrieg to woo the electorate in this temple town, which is also the Lok Sabha constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But a seemingly divided Kashi (the old name of Varanasi) has kept them on the edge.

If rival parties had hoped that the show of strength in Saturday’s roadshows by their top leaders would settle the matter one way or the other, they were grossly mistaken.

None, not even the veterans, are ready to make a guess as to which of the roadshows drew more number of people.

What added to the mystery surrounding the mood of the electorate here was the disappearance of flags, posters and banners from the areas through which Modi and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi-Chief MinisterAkhilesh Yadav’s roadshows traversed.

The temple town seems to be sharply divided on the issue of the development of Kashi.
While a section said that a lot of work has been done here since Modi became the prime minister, there is an equally vocal section that claimed that Kashi has changed for the worse.

“Modiji has brought so many schemes in Kashi. He has been trying hard, but he did not get the support of the state government. We need a BJP government in the state to make Kashi a world-class city,” said Ashish Shukla, a resident of Lahartara area in the town.
A somewhat similar sentiment was expressed by Raju Soni, an auto driver.