Rain brings comic relief to poll war

Chandigarh, Feb 12 (UNI) The cloudy weather and the rains in Punjab for a couple of days ahead of tomorrow's assembly polls have added some humour to the otherwise caustic campaign of political parties in the state.

When Congress president Sonia Gandhi's election rallies in the state were cancelled on Saturday due to rains, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) supremo Parkash Singh Badal's supporters made it an occasion for amusement.

''Badal aa rahe ne, Sonia nuss gayi'' (Badals are coming, Sonia has fled),'' they jested making use of pun in their leader's surname which means cloud.

From the Congress side, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh responded in a rally at Kotakpura yesterday: ''The political sky in the state is clear now. There is no 'Badal' (cloud) hovering over Punjab today.'' Interestingly, just before the Kotakpura rally Capt Singh's chopper landed at the venue of a SAD rally in the nearby Gidderbaha town by mistake. However, he went back in a huff when he saw SAD supporters raising slogans in favour of party general secretary Sukhbir Singh Badal.

Later in the day, the SAD workers joked around saying Capt Singh had come to join the Akali ranks after losing all hopes of coming back to power.

The Congress activists, on the other hand, contended that he had gone to the site of SAD rally to tell the Akali cadre to vote for Congress as the Badals were set to lose the elections.

UNI