Family power for Yashwant - Wife, children campaign

Yashwant Sinha’s daughter Sharmila (second from left) and son Sumant (left) campaign in Hazaribagh on Friday. Pix: Vishvendu Jaipuriar

Hazaribagh, April 10: If star campaigners are the flavour of this election season, BJP candidate from Hazaribagh Yashwant Sinha chooses to be different. The former external affairs minister rather banks on his family to woo voters.

Sinha’s wife Nilima, sons, Jayant and Sumant, and daughter Sharmila Kanth (she is married to Ashok Kanth, the current Indian ambassador in Malaysia) have jumped into the campaign bandwagon. They are touring the constituency everyday to make voters aware of the development works undertaken by Sinha.

Sharmila, who has come all the way from Malaysia just to campaign for her father, had so far visited town areas such as Lohsigna, Ram Nagar, New Area, Anandpuri, Saketpuri, Suresh Colony Korrah and Lakhe, where she interacted with voters, especially women.

She was seen patiently listening to the grievances of the people and assuring them that the area would definitely witness speedy development. “But for that, you have to vote for Yashwant Sinha, who can take your voice to the Centre,” she added.

Her elder brother Jayant added: “I have a strong feeling that this time, the scales will tip in favour of my father.” Jayant, a top official in a global management company, had toured areas under Ramgarh Assembly, a bastion of All Jharkhand Students’ Union.

“The people there have realised that they had committed a mistake by not voting for my father in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. For, with my father’s defeat, development took a backseat in Hazaribagh,” he added.

Echoing Jayant, his mother said: “I tried to impress on the voters that development has been eluding Hazaribagh since a long time. Now, this constituency needs parenting from a person such as Yashwant Sinha.”

Nilima is touring Chari, Barhi and Katkamsandi. Sumant, the chief operating officer of a leading wind energy company, also hit the campaign trail a few days back and is visiting remote places.

Meanwhile, Sinha sounded quite confident when asked about the visit of actor Sanjay Dutt, who had recently come to campaign for Samajwadi Party candidate Digambar Mehta. He said Dutt’s visit didn’t pose any threat to his chances of winning the polls.

Asked whether he too would like to call any star campaigner, Sinha replied: “Yahan ki public hi meri star campaigner hai.”