SHILLONG [TST] : Singing sensation Amit Paul, who is in hot pursuit of the coveted Indian Idol little, seems to be trailing where it matters most - voting.
According to reports reaching here from Mumbai, despite his highly impressive performance in all the recent episodes of the contest hosted by Sony TV, Amit now runs the risk of being shown the door for no fault of his. Owing to inadequate support from fans, Amit is lagging behind Prashant Tamang of Darjeeling by a whopping three lakh votes.
Meghalaya's low key response, coupled with lack of effort to drum up public support are said to the prime reasons for this gap.
The Nepali-speaking cop, Prashant is said to have a better network of fans and added to this, his police background has helped his cause appreciably.
Informed sources said that Amit can easily catch up with Prashant, if a wave of awareness of voting is created not only in the State, but across the Northeastern Sister states, through initiatives of fans and well -wishers.
Some local fans have been making sporadic attempts at rousing the people. Last week some of them returned to book support for Amit in Assam's Barak Valley. At Silchar a Press Conference was held, followed by a rally taken out in the busy thoroughfares of the town and all this for the cause of garnering support for Amit. Although the frenzy witnessed last year, when Silchar's own Debojit Saha won the "Sa Re Ga Ma Pa contest", is missing, effort seems to have had salutary effect.
On Thursday Debojit called up The Shillong Times office to appeal to the people for backing up Amit. "I think he is capable of becoming Indian Idol, all he needs is people's support."
Calling from Kolkata where he is camping for cutting a new disc, Debojit informed that he would be in Guwahati soon for show and would seize the opportunity to canvass for Amit.
There are many ardent fans of Amit in Shillong who are of the view that before long a vigorous public participatory programme should be drawn up to garner support for Amit. The question is who will take the lead?
TST:- The Shillong Times.
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