Is Rajnath Singh in for a second coming? Not if the folklore currently swaying the popular mindset is to be believed. The election office of Samajwadi Party candidate Arvind Singh Gope is suddenly swarming with activity. Around 50 Brahmins have just left Rajnath's camp and are swearing allegiance to the hitherto unknown SP contender. ``Yeh to hona hi tha (This had to happen),'' explains Shahab Khalid, his campaign manager. ``These people know that Rajnath cannot win because Baba Uma Shankar said so,'' he proffers.


Baba Uma Shankar? According to popular folklore the political scenario in Haidergarh operates under a curse whereby no one can win an election a second time. ``Baba won the elections from Haidergarh in 1957. But when he stood for a second time, he lost. The enraged Brahmin cursed the constituency and declared there could never be a second coming for any neta in Haidergarh,'' says Khalid.
Do the agitated Brahmins actually believe in this curse. ``Brahmin ka shraap hai; aur Brahmin ka shraap kabhi khaali nahin jaata (This is a Brahmin's curse; and a Brahmin's curse never goes empty),'' says septuagenarian Satyadev Shukla.


Folklore apart, it's not going to be a cakewalk for UP's chief minister. For, despite his promises to transform Haidergarh into a model constituency, the small township is crying out for succour. The 62-km approach road to Haidergarh from Rae Bareilly is a veritable nightmare dotted with pockets of under-development. The nearest college is 23 km away; the nearest hospital 9 km away. ``And this too has just one doctor who attends the hospital only for an hour after his private practice is over,'' moans Pawan Kumar Tiwari, a teacher in the local college. There are no new factories which have been set up. Only the boundary wall for a sugar factory has come up. The promised textile mill is nowhere in sight and power supply remains erratic and inadequate. Obviously, a list of promises that remains unfulfilled.