E-Paper
Of cooking, praying and some stock-taking
After cooking the poll strategy for the party over the last fortnight, post-election day Patni headed straight to the kitchen to cook some palatable stuff. He prepared fried rice to fulfil his gastronomic desire.
YESTERDAY’S VOTING marked the end of the hectic part of the poll story. Counting still some days away, some mayoral candidates used this much-needed short break to reenergize themselves, while others kept themselves busy with party work. HT takes a peek into what the mayoral aspirants did on the day after.
Ravindra Patni Bharatiya Janata Party
After cooking the poll strategy for the party over the last fortnight, post-election day Patni headed straight to the kitchen to cook some palatable stuff. He prepared fried rice to fulfil his gastronomic desire.
Patni also went back to his normal grind after getting out of bed at 6.30 am after catching sleep for just two hours.
With electioneering off his back, Patni felt happy to start the home groove. He began his day by taking his daughter to school. Later, he went to visit his mother or ‘Chaiji’, who is recovering at a nursing home. Patni spent most of the day in attending to his ailing mother. Party members also turned up at the nursing home. From the nursing home, Patni went to the party office at Kaushalpuri. On return, he cooked some spicy fried rice for himself.
Asked about the possible outcome on November 6, Patni said: “It is not wise to speculate on election results. I leave it to God.”
Neeraj Chaturvedi Samajwadi Party
Neeraj Chaturvedi started his day by visiting the famous Parmat temple at 11 am. He paid obeisance to Lord Shiv.
From the temple, the SP leader went to the central election office of his party. He met other leaders and discussed events related to polling day. Senior party leaders including Surendra Mohan Agarwal and Virendra Dubey were there.
Meetings over, Chaturvedi went to the Halsi Road office to meet party workers.
In the evening, Chaturvedi went to attend his ailing wife recuperating from dengue at a nursing home.
Badri Narayan Tewari Congress
Hectic activity followed Congress nominee Badri Narayan Tewari even after poll was over yesterday. The religious-minded septuagenarian who rode the political wave of campaigning over the last 20 days was busy calculating his prospects.
After the end of polling, his election managers thronged his house in Shivala to discuss polling trend in each Assembly segments. With data pouring in, they were being analysed to finalise counting-day strategy. All this went on for hours and he couldn’t take time off till 4 in the morning.
The moment he got a chance to catch some sleep, news came that a close relative has passed away. In no time, he rushed to the relative’s place to offer condolence.
The funeral procession was taken out at 11 am but Tewari couldn’t return home till late evening as he had to perform certain rituals.
Saleem Ahmad BSP supported Independent
Bahujan Samaj Party supported young mayoral candidate Saleem Ahmad was available to everyone for the last one month. But 24 hours after polling was over, Ahmad went off the radar. Those who turned up at his residence were told that Salim has gone to meet his old friends and from there he would go for boating.
The man, who might have upset the apple cart of the main contenders, was actually holding a meeting with the BSP think tank.
As the closed-door meet with BSP coordinator KK Gautam continued, guards were told to ward off any trespassers.
Later, the two leaders went to a Naveen Market restaurant for lunch.
