Jhansi: The stage was set for a battle royal in Uttar Pradesh's Jhansi constituency where cousins Rahul Gandhi and Varun Gandhi sought the voters' attention on consecutive days in the same constituency.
The Gandhi young guns were battling it out for the vote of Jhansi in the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh.
First off the mark was Varun, fresh from his stint in jail.
"Aaj woh zamana chala gaya hai. Raja apne mehlon se aake, gareebon ki sahayata karte the, sukhe me madad karte the, apne zameen bech bech ke, gareebon ki betiyon ki shaadi karte the. Woh zamana chala gaya hai....," Varun Gandhi, Candidate, BJP was heard saying. (Those days are gone when kings would come from their palaces and help the poor. In times of drought, they would sell their land and get the daughters of the poor married but those days are gone.)
24 hours later, his cousin took centrestage; his focus was the Centre's relief measures.
"Hamare kisan bhai jo iss prakar khi dhoop me...bina paani ke kaam karte hain...bina sichai ke kaam karte hain....unke liye hum ne subse bada karza maafi ka program kiya...sirf paisa nahin diya......in kisano ke liye darwaze band the....humne darwaze phir se khulwaye....lakhon kisano ko naya rasta diya," Rahul Gandhi said. (All the doors to get money or loans were closed for these poor farmers as they had defaulted. But we helped opening those doors for them thereby showing them a new direction.)
In the battle for Bundelkhand, the Congress stakes claim saying that people will vote for them on the basis of the 10,000 crore package that the Centre has got sanctioned for the development of the region. The BJP's confidence of coming to power, on the other hand, lies in the sympathy vote they are hoping Varun Gandhi will get here.
For the last 20 years, Bundelkhand, one of the poorest regions in India's politically most important state, has been demanding statehood.
A severe drought in the last 5 years has led to nearly 300 farmer deaths, people are hungry for development.