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Early start a handy strategy for Cong’s mayoral candidate
Prema Awasthi’s campaign now moves to the Gulzar Nagar area of Mawaiyya where she addresses a gathering of slum dwellers, mostly Bangaleshi Muslim migrants who have settled in the area for years.
It’s a surprise for morning walkers at 6.40am, just a few minutes after sunrise, as Congress’s mayoral candidate Prema Awasthi greets them at Swarna Jayanti Park on Ring Road in Indira Nagar.
She, along with her team, requests everyone to vote for the Congress, saying “the party always believes in development”.
Prema Awasthi is the wife of former Congress legislator the late Surendra Nath aliash Puttu Awasthi who had hobnobbed briefly with the BJP, vacating his Haidergarh seat for the then chief minister Rajnath Singh in 2001.
Prema Awasthi’s campaign now moves to the Gulzar Nagar area of Mawaiyya where she addresses a gathering of slum dwellers, mostly Bangaleshi Muslim migrants who have settled in the area for years.
“My husband worked for the downtrodden till his last breath. Now, I have decided to carry his legacy forward. I will be accountable to every voter if I win. I promise good roads, street lights, sewer lines, drains, 24x7 water supply and other civic amenities,” she says.
Campaigning door to door, she pleads with residents to vote for her.
The Kashmiri Mohalla is her next stop. Here, she appeals to voters to strengthen the hands of Rahul Gandhi and secularism. She says she is surprised to see poor civic conditions in the state capital. “Now, the time has come for people to punish those who have not worked and hand over the reins to those keen to work,” she says.
She admits campaigning has not been easy and her daily routine has gone haywire.
“I don’t know where I will take lunch or dinner. I am working hard to win the post for my party,” she says.
Senior party leader Virendra Madan says, “The Congress will surprise everyone this time. We are confident of winning the mayoral election. The Congress is getting overwhelming support wherever Prema Awasthi is campaigning.”
