'Wiser' Uttar Pradesh voters not lured by gadgets: Jaiswal

Lucknow: The Samajwadi Party and BJP’s formula to woo voters with laptops and tablet computers might work in some south Indian states but would not be of any help in Uttar Pradesh where the electorate is “much wiser”, senior Congress leader Sriprakash Jaiswal said. Exuding confidence that the issue of development would be the main issue in the Uttar Pradesh elections, Jaiswal said there is a growing realisation that non-Congress governments have “hindered” the growth of the state.[caption id=“attachment_198839” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Union Minister for Coal, Sriprakash Jaiswal. Image courtesy PIB”] [/caption] “The electorate in Uttar Pradesh is much more wiser and politically sound and does not believe in hero worship…they will take the laptops, cycles, TV sets and all that the political parties offer but would not get influenced by it while exercising their franchise”, Jaiswal said. “This practise might pay dividends in some south Indian states where there is a practice of hero worship…where they have shown inclination towards film stars”, the Union coal minister said, adding the politically sound electorate in Lucknow has voted on issues. The Congress leader also felt that the doubts over the leadership qualities of general secretary Rahul Gandhi following the “not upto the mark” performance of the Congress in 2007 assembly elections would come to an end this time round. “Then he was comparatively new to politics ..he was neither MP nor general secretary of the party… but this time he has a lot of confidence and maturity besides the faith of the people in him “, Jaiswal said. To a question as to how with the poor organisational set up, Congress hopes to capitalise on the charisma of Rahul Gandhi, Jaiswal said that he (Rahul) is aware of this shortcoming. “He has made the network of voters strong enough through his hectic campaigning and extensive tours and this would make up for the organisational weakness,” Jaiswal said. “It was because he (Rahul) was there for the people of Bundelkhand in their hour of crisis, much before the elections were announced, that they have reposed faith in him,” he said. To a question on opposition to fielding of outsiders by the party in some places, Jaiswal said there have been no reservations on fielding people having some kind of Congress background where there were no appropriate choices. “When there are more than one claimants for the tickets these things do take place but balance has been established gradually”, Jaiswal in whose parliamentary constituency Kanpur factions of rival ticket seekers had recently thrown chairs at each other, said. PTI