Shimla:
The campaign fever is peaking in Himachal Pradesh with just days to go before campaigning ends on Friday at 5pm. And in the midst of the election rallies and door-to-door campaigns is Sukhram, the country's former telecom minister who was also convicted on corruption charges in the 1996 telecom scam and sentenced to three years in jail. He's lending his voice for his son, Anil Sharma's campaign, who is a Congress candidate. What's astonishing, though, is that while Mr Sukhram is busy here, he has managed to evade court appearances for months, claiming he's unwell.
Mr Sukhram, with his brazen poll pitch despite a conviction, is one of the many leaders who are out campaigning, allegations of corruption not-withstanding.
There's Congress' chief minister hopeful Virbhadra Singh, dropped from the Union cabinet on corruption charges.
BJP's former health minister Bindal is back seeking a re-election.
In fact, questions of financial impropriety and quid pro quo almost led to the cancellation of BJP President Nitin Gadkari's election rallies in the state. And though he did turn up last week to campaign in the remote tribal parts of Kinnaur, his scheduled programme for October 30, was suddenly and unceremoniously dropped in a last minute decision.
Here in Himachal, both the BJP and the Congress are plagued with charges of corruption, reason why basic issues of development and price rise are still relevant.
It's why speeches of most Congress leaders are peppered with references to bad roads, poor infrastructure, unused Central funds.
It's also why Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi waved an induction heater during his rally in Mandi. Mr Modi was clearly referring to the Union government's decision to cap subsidised Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinders to six, which for a hill state like Himachal Pradesh, is a matter of concern. Especially in the winter, many snow-capped regions of the state get completely cut off and most people stock LPG cylinders to stay warn in these months.
A woman we spoke to said, "Price rise is a bigger problem for us than corruption. If they don't increase the number of subsidised cylinders, what option do we have but to reduce the quantity of what we eat. The number of subsidised cylinders must be increased to at least 12."
Pooja Chauhan, a young voter from Shimla said she felt, "Corruption and price rise according to me are related. If there wasn't corruption there wouldn't be such a problem of rising prices."
Not a single speech is complete without the mention of corruption in these rallies, yet both the big parties know that neither is immune to its allegations.
Which is why '
Bijli sadak paani' and now even LPG can't be forgotten.