Lok Sabha polls: Shivpal Gurjar banks on Raveena Tandon, Mahima Chaudhary in Dausa

JAIPUR: With the electoral contest becoming intensely competitive, Haryana businessman and independent candidate Shivpal Singh Gurjar is trying to make his campaign stand out in Rajasthan’s Dausa constituency by introducing old Bollywood glamour to election meetings. In a region which has traditionally played host to bitter caste and religion fuelled politics, this campaign style has created a buzz for this ‘outsider’ contesting his first election.

It was on April 4, when he first led a large procession with Raveen Tandon for filing his nomination, that Shivpal had his brief moment under the sun as local media extensively covered it and rival politicians talked about him. Now, another Bollywood actress Mahima Chaudhary is scheduled to arrive and campaign for him for two days--April 15 and 16. After Chaudhary, even cricketers and Bollywood actors could arrive to campaign for him, say his aides. According to Shivpal’s campaign manager, Balraj, it is a conscious strategy to make the businessman’s first election campaign stand out.

"We wanted to do something different for the campaign so that it could have its own identity," says Balraj.Till recently, Dausa was being watched closely for the fierce contest between three Meena community leaders—Dr. Kirori Lal of the National People’s Party; Namo Narain Meena of Congress and BJP’s Harish Chandra. But with the likes of Shivpal throwing their hat in the ring, there has been speculation that Meena community votes will get divided among the three leaders and a combination of other community votes may benefit independent candidates such as Shivpal.