Choppers are going to rule the sky for the entire one and a half month of lok Sabha elections in Jharkhand but it will not take all the candidates to the top. Although the flying machines are the most preferred medium of travelling in the remote areas of Chotanagpur plateau they also portray the difference between the candidates in poll fray.
India’s oldest party, the Congress, is leading among the parties to use this newer mode of transport to ferry their star campaigners, State president and central leaders to the election rallies that will be oraganised across the length and breadth of Jharkhand. While the party is expecting two choppers to arrive today, two more will arrive later. Interestingly, these helicopters will not be used by party president Sonia Gandhi, as per the sources, as the UPA chairperson is likely to travel through a dedicated chopper.
“These choppers will be used under the guidance of State president. As of now only four choppers will be used for campaigning across Jharkhand,” maintained Congress spokesperson Shailesh Sinha.
The Congress is not alone as other parties have also kept their machines ready to fly off to constituencies. The JVM appears to be the party which has been using the aerial route to reach out to masses even before others could even procure the machine for election campaign. The JVM has roped in two choppers; the State Bhartiya Janta Party has been lucky to get two helicopters and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha is using one besides one likely to be hired in next few days.
“Use of helicopter will be decided by central unit of the party. We will send central leadership a list of people interested in using helicopter and they need to endorse it to allow use of the machine,” said VB Dubey, Member of BJP’s election management committee.
However, there are parties that need to think thousand times before hiring helicopters while for some affordability is out of question. The AJSU party will use one helicopter whereas the Trinamool Congress (TMC) will take the land route for poll campaigning and is staring at the sky anticipating Mamta Banerji to come on a helicopter.
“They have amassed money through scams and so they can use helicopters. We do not have means to afford helicopters,” said TMC spokesperson Shashikant Tirkey.
Ironically, the rotors of helicopter, as usual, is set to silence voices of those who cannot even afford fleet of vehicles for election campaigning. They look like ordinary people fighting for ordinary lot but rue that they are more inclined to lend ear to the habitual promise makers who come, make fake promises and disappear in the deep blue sky.
“They come on a chopper to show that they can pay them thousands of rupee for voting them in their favour. These machines need to be banned,” said Colonel lal Jyotindra Dev, a candidate for Ranchi from Akhil Bhartiya Jharkhand Party.