New Delhi: As Uttar Pradesh prepares for the third phase of polling, the BJP seemed to be concerned over the “silence” among its core Hindutva vote bank.
Ground reports reaching the BJP high command and also the feedback with the RSS indicate that the Hindutva vote bank is “confused” on a number of issues when it comes to whether or not to back the saffron party.
BJP’s inability to project a chief ministerial candidate in this politically crucial state is a key factor for this “silence”. Feedback from first and second phases of polling suggests that for as there is no “major issue” to consolidate behind the BJP, the Hindu vote bank could also look for other options and SP is the “best alternative”.
Unlike earlier when the Hindu vote bank was “prompt” in its replies, the feedback suggests that most of the replies when asked who will they vote or voted for, have been “dekhte hain (lets see)”.
Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi is BJP’s poll mascot in the UP polls, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav remains the first choice of this votebank for the top post in the state.
However, there is a concern whether Mr Yadav would continue with his development agenda or “pursue the communal politics” as “done” by his party “under SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav.”
The feedback suggests that Mr Modi’s popularity remains intact and many agree that BJP is giving a tough fight to both the regional heavyweights — SP and BSP on almost all the Assembly constituencies.
But lack of chief ministerial candidate with the BJP is a concern with this vote bank, who is also miffed with BSP supremo Mayawati, who they feel is “only wooing Muslims”. The BSP has fielded the highest number of Muslim candidates at nearly 100. Muslims had supported the SP in the 2012 elections but in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Muslim vote bank got divided benefiting the BJP.
Rebels plot Akhilesh ‘revenge’
Jheen Babu a.k.a. Mahendra Singh and Rampal Yadav are rebel SP MLAs who have been denied tickets by SP president and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. Jheen Babu is a four-term sitting MLA from Sevta seat while Rampal Yadav is the sitting SP MLA from Mehmoodabad.
Jheen Babu has decided not to contest elections this time and has given his seat to Rampal Yadav who is contesting on a Rashtriya Lok Dal ticket. “We want to avenge the humiliation that has been meted out to us by Akhilesh Yadav. Our purpose is to defeat the Chief Minister,” said Jheen Babu.
Rampal Yadav, who was earlier expelled from the party on land grabbing charges by Mr Akhilesh Yadav, said “We will defeat Akhilesh, not the Samajwadis. Our leader continues to be Mulayam Singh Yadav and we are even using his photograph in our posters.”
The two leaders, in their public speeches, reminded voters that Mr Akhilesh Yadav is stubborn and did not even accept his father’s list of 38 candidates but at the same time gave away 105 seats to the Congress party.
They claim that Akhilesh has deposed his father from the party and is determined to destroy those who support his father. When asked why the chief minister refused to give them tickets, the two legislators claim that it was their increasing clout in the district that troubled Mr Akhilesh Yadav. Rampal Yadav's son and daughter had won the panchayat elections as rebel SP candidates last year and this apparently irked the chief minister.
The rebel MLAs are obviously unwilling to accept the leadership of Mr Akhilesh Yadav. "Akhilesh has proved his lack of capability in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Had he not managed things, even his wife Dimple Yadav would have lost from Kannauj. These elections will again prove his inability", says Rampal Yadav. The campaign being run by these two rebel leaders is expectedly causing problems for the official SP candidate Shivkumar Gupta.
Ravi Yadav, a young SP worker, admits that, "Rampal and Jheen Babu are very senior leaders and wield clout in the area. Together, they have become a force to reckon with and their campaign against our party leadership is damaging our candidate".
