Braj area comes to prime focus of Cong, BJP aspirants in Mathura

BJP National Secretary and its media face Shrikant Sharma is wooing voters here promising "uplift" of the Braj area among other things to unseat Congress's Pradeep Mathur, who is banking on his "connect with locals" to win this seat for a fourth consecutive time.

Sharma has made a slew of promises for the Braj area, including getting Mathura included in NCR area and the Yamuna river cleaned.

He accuses the Samajwadi Party and Mathur of doing little for the cause of Mathura.

"There is problem of drinking water on the one hand and that of waterlogging on the other. This is the birthplace of Lord Krishna but there is lack of basic facilities. Electric supply is erratic, there are transportation problems and crime rate has risen alarmingly than areas like Mainpuri and Etah," says Sharma.

As he reaches out to the people of the constituency, which has both urban and rural segments, he tries to raise larger issues as well.

He claims despite the Akhilesh Yadav government receiving funds from the Centre under the JNNURM scheme, the people of Mathura have not

benefited due to improper implementation.

Attacking the SP-Congress combine, he alleges that it is a "cocktail of crime and corruption".

"There is one flop 'yuvraj' (prince) who stayed at the Centre for 10 years. Another 'yuvraj' benefited because of the anger against the Mayawati government over corruption and crime. But he has continued the same legacy and is now enacting a drama.