BJP’s Venkaiah Naidu falls in line at polling booth

Bangalore : Ruling BJP’s senior leader and lawmaker M. Venkaiah Naidu had a taste of the people’s power Sunday when he was snubbed by voters when he tried to muscle his way into a polling booth with party workers and supporters, jumping the queue.

A Rajya Sabha member from the state, Naidu is a voter in the Malleshwaram assembly constituency, a middle class locality in the northwest of the city.

When Naidu tried to walk straight into the booth with a couple of his party cadres, instead of standing in line and awaiting his turn, some of the voters already in the queue shouted at him, asking him to fall in line.

Taken aback, Naidu sought to pacify the crowd saying he was in a hurry to cast his vote as he had other engagements to attend as an member of parliament from the state.

As many of the voters in the queue did not know or recognise Naidu, who originally hails from the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh state, they politely told him that it was immaterial who he was; everyone had to be in line.

A chastened Naidu stood in line, as did the men with him.