Rishikesh

Of all the 13 women members in the Bidar Zilla Panchayat, Vice President Meenakshi Sangram is the only one who answers her phone. Voters’ experience with other women members has been different. When people dialed the number of other women members, it was their husbands who picked up the phone and spoke, without letting the women handle the issue. ``Men think I am aggressive and dominant. But I just want to say I like to make my presence felt,’’ says Ms Sangram. The Congress leader who has ambitions of being the ZP president, is fighting the polls again from Kamal Nagar in Aurad taluk. But she seems to be an exception. Usually, male relatives tend to sideline women members in rural and urban local bodies. When The Hindu spoke to women ticket aspirants from various parties, it was invariably the men who wanted to comment. ``You tell me what kind of a reaction you are looking for. I will call you back with the comment,’’ said a JD(S) ticket aspirant’s son, without passing on the phone to