The skies over Uttar Pradesh may not be crowded in the next Assembly elections.
Disturbed by the recent deaths of chief ministers of Arunachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh in helicopter crashes, political parties in UP have already started looking for safer travel options.
“In the next Assembly polls, we will avoid the use of helicopter as far as possible. While Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav will mainly travel by ‘Parivartan Rath’, his luxury bus equipped with all basic amenities, other senior party leaders will also hit the road and avoid air travel. The deaths of Y.S.R. Reddy in Andhra Pradesh and Dorjee Khandu in Arunachal Pradesh are obvious lessons to learn from,” said a senior Samajwadi Party leader.
A veteran SP leader said that, in any case, road travel should be the preferred mode of travel during elections. “Helicopters may pull in curious crowds but a personal interaction with voters is any day better and we are happy that the Samajwadi Party will be reverting to road travel —irrespective of the reasons,” he opined. Incidentally, it was the Samajwadi Party that had ushered in the ‘helicopter culture’ in state politics in mid-nineties. With Mr Amar Singh and his ample resources at hand, even the second-rung SP leaders had made flying a habit.
The BJP, on the other hand, is also planning to “drastically reduce” air travel by party leaders.
“We have to cut costs and risks as well. We will provide helicopters to top leaders only when it is absolutely necessary,” said a party functionary adding that there was ample time for campaign and the party would start early in order to cover all segments.