It should not be a surprise if a disqualification is awarded as a ‘˜face-saver’ which would be any day better than a distant third position in the central battle.
It seems Congress candidate in Varanasi is inspired by his opponent, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, quite heavily. Rai was seen wearing his party’s election symbol quite proudly on his lapel while voting early morning at a booth in Ramnagar of Kashi.
“I wasn’t carrying it in my hands, it was pinned on my lapel,” Rai told reporters after the BJP raised a furore and asked for an FIR to be filed against him.
He tried to plead innocence by claiming that he was ‘unaware’ of any such rule. “I wear it as a routine. When I step out of my house, I always have the symbol on my clothes. I was unaware of this rule,” he told a television channel.
I was not holding the party symbol,it is a routine to wear it on my clothes,did not flash it intentionally : Ajay Rai,Congress
— ANI (@ANI_news) May 12, 2014
Wonder what caused this temporary amnesia to Rai because just a few days back he was speaking about Modi and his white lotus selfie outside one Ahmedabad polling booth in media demanding action by the Election Commission.
Rai is also learnt to have said that ‘unlike Modi’, he was not ‘flashing’ the symbol in front of the media.
Well, unlike Modi who, according to EC, “from the substance, tone and tenor of the address” appeared that it “intended and calculated to influence and affect the result of elections in the constituencies going to polls today”, Rai may not be able to do much on the last day of the polling.
Also, the action may be an attempt to receive last-minute publicity given that the limelight in which he is basking will soon be over. In fact, he has managed to receive more wrath from the voters who stood strongly by the side of Modi on social media platforms in the similar yet different scenario.
Given an FIR has been filed against Rai and he chooses to “see what happens when it happens”, it should not be a surprise if a disqualification is awarded as a ‘face-saver’ which would be any day better than a distant third position in the central battle.
