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Unlike other cities in politically volatile Uttar Pradesh, capital Lucknow gave superstar Amitabh Bachchan, who has been covertly campaigning for the Samajwadi Party, only a lukewarm response on Saturday.
The Big 'B' devoted a full hour to the grand finale of the series of Samajwadi Party sponsored 'blood donation camps' cum entertainment shows on the eve of the state assembly poll in the state.
However, the crowd at the Laxman mela grounds on the banks of the river Gomti was far from impressed.
It was only Amitabh's eloquence and rendition of popular numbers and dialogues from his movies that perked up the audience.
Numerically, the crowd appeared to be smaller than that in Kanpur on Friday and in other places, where these 'social functions' have taken place.
In Lucknow, each of the Samajwadi Party nominees for the four seats in Lucknow city were called on the dais by party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. They discreetly stood behind Bachchan and SP leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh as the chief guests waved at the crowds.
Bachchan appealed to the crowd to support what he described as 'Mulayam Singh Yadav's war against criminals and criminalisation'.
The Samajwadi Party chief took potshots at both the BJP and the Congress.
"Some people are chagrined over our holding these camps. I have no solution to their problem, but you can give them a befitting answer," he told the audience.
This 'camp' was a clear departure from the earlier ones organised by the SP in different parts of the state though both Bachchan and Mulayam have always been insisting that these meetings were totally 'apolitical' and meant solely for a 'social cause'.
Unlike the usual red and green that adorn all SP meetings, the dais here was draped in white with neatly hung marigold garlands to break the monotony.
Yet, the show had all ingredients of a political rally albeit with an extra dose of entertainment with Amitabh promptly conceding to public demand for a longer performance.
Unlike other places where he would up after just one popular number Mere angane mein tumhara kya kaam hai, he went on to sing Rang barase bhige chunar wali, rang barase.
This was followed by a powerful and emotionally charged dialogue from Deewar, one of his more popular movies, that was greeted by thunderous applause from the crowd.
No sooner did Amitabh bid farewell to the crowd, the whole place was deserted within minutes.
Even the blood donation camp organised with much fanfare proved to be a non-starter as barely half the 88 persons who had registered themselves for donation, actually turned up.
Most of the donors happened to be either activists of the SP or the Central Bar Association (a body of local lawyers) or the Samajwadi Adhivakta Sangh (Samajwadi Advocates Association).
CBA president R K Yadav praised Mulayam to the skies and urged the crowds to strengthen his hands.
President of Samajwadi Adhivakta Sangh Rajiv Singh, who was among the first to offer blood, told rediff.com, "I have brought 15 of my colleagues - all activists of our association - to donate blood."
Not many other than committed SP workers were of the view that Amitabh's presence at the show would make a difference to the party's prospects in the election.
"We will vote for the SP, but not because of Amitabh Bachchan," remarked Ramesh Kumar Yadav and Radhey Shyam Singh, who had come from Chinhat, a Lucknow suburb along with some 25 persons to see the superstar.
Mehtab Khan, a carpenter, who too confessed to being a supporter of the SP, appeared least impressed by Amitabh's antics.
"Why did it take him 20 years to get inspired by the emotional upsurge he experienced after suffering grievous injuries during the shooting of Coolie - as he tells the audience?"
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