A hotel on Grand Trunk Road in Aurangabad witnessed a fierce brawl between a Congress worker and managers of the party nominee from Aurangabad, Nikhil Kumar, on the evening of April 1.I brought hundreds of people from the hinterlands for Rahul Gandhi’s meeting. You have to pay for it. Aakhir mera bhi pet hai (after all, I too have stomach to feed)”. ahul had addressed a rally earlier in the day. A manager of Nikhil retorted: “Iss tarah se paise ke liye mat chillao…party ka beizzati mat karo (Don’t shout for money…don’t insult the party).” The Congress worker cursed the manager. “Tumhe korhi phut jayega. Nark me bhi jagah nahin milega (You will catch leprosy. You will not even find a place in hell),” he said. Bhir ho ya bhashan…sab paise se hota hai, paisa ka khel hai (Be it crowd or speech, everything happens for money, it is a game of money)”, murmured a guest staying at the hotel. I>Summary: The key player in elections is money and not the candidates and parties in the fray. The JD(U)’s Kutumba MLA — a Maoist-turned-lawmaker — Lallan Ram, was moving with two upper caste supporters to drive home the impression that he had the upper castes in chief minister Nitish Kumar’s favour. “Bhumihar bhai log bhi hamare saath hain. Aap log JD(U) ko vote dijiye (The Bhumihar brothers are also with us. You should vote for the JD-U),” Lallan, himself a Scheduled Caste, told a section of the upper caste voters. But one of the two supporters took The Telegraph team aside to murmur in our ears. “We are all for the BJP and Narendra Modi. We want to see chief minister Nitish Kumar defeated this time”. I>Summary: Even “enemies” can escort a campaign.
Monday, 09 February 2026
