UP: Honour at stake as SP, Cong, BJP brace themselves for by-elections

In Uttar Pradesh all political and administrative activity is once again being directed towards a common objective — winning elections. All major players in the state — the Samajwadi Party, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party — have started gearing up for a show of strength in the 12 by-elections that are scheduled in end-July or early August. The Bahujan Samaj Party has announced that it will not contest the by-elections. The by-elections will be held in Kairana, Lucknow (East), Bijnore, Thakurdwara, Noida, Saharanpur, Charkhari, Hamirpur, Nighasan, Sirathu, Balha and Rohnia, from where legislators had been elected to Lok Sabha. One by-election for the Lok Sabha is also due in Mainpuri, the seat Mulayam Singh Yadav has decided to vacate. [caption id=“attachment_1590483” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Mulayam Singh and Akhilesh Yadav. AFP[/caption] Within the BJP, reports of a change in the state leadership had been making the rounds after the Lok Sabha election results. But state party chief Laxmikant Bajpai is said to have earned a reprieve for himself in view of the proactive stance the party workers have taken under his command, and also because it is felt that the new national president of the party will have a team of his choice in states. In the past couple of weeks, the party has come out on streets braving police action and SP onslaught. It staged a demonstration in front of the chief minister office in the aftermath of the Budaun rape and murder case. A few days later, the SP workers staged a demonstration in front of the BJP office and despite police presence threw stones at the BJP office. A clash between the workers of the two parties had ensued, forcing the state BJP president Laxmikant Bajpai to stage a sit-in at the office of the senior superintendent of police demanding action against errant policemen. Two policemen were removed shortly thereafter. Among all seats, intense lobbying is going on for the party candidate in Lucknow (East) represented by Kalraj Mishra, who won the Deoria Lok Sabha seat. Many office bearers within state BJP and some outsiders, too, are said to be lobbying with party leadership for candidature from this seat. There seems to be some contention with the Rohania seat also which was represented by Apna Dal’s Anypriya Patel. She has been elected to Lok Sabha and her party wishes to contest the by-election from there, but the BJP is unwilling to leave this seat for Apna Dal. It is the ruling Samajwadi Party for which the stakes are the highest in the by-elections. A victory on any or more of these seats will be a big morale-booster for the ruling party in view of the flak the Akhilesh Yadav government has been attracting in the last couple of months. In the aftermath of the results all party units were dissolved, leaders holding state minister ranks were dismissed, a reshuffle was effected in the cabinet, and three populist schemes were given a quiet burial in the state’s annual budget. “Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) has given very clear message that now the party means business. We have to move forward with determination, after all it is our government in the state,” said a party leader. Party workers held state-wide protests against the hike in railway fares, holding up trains, burning effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and clashing with BJP workers in Lucknow. The freebie schemes of free laptops, unemployment allowance and Kanya Vidyadhan involving cash to girls from poor families have been scrapped in the budget which has laid greater stress on infrastructure development and education. “The attempt is to repair the damage the party’s reputation has suffered in the last two years,” says Abbas Rizvi, a social worker. However, it is in the Congress that the mood is changing fast. “Even though the Assembly elections are due only in 2017, but the coming by-elections have given us an opportunity to put our flock together after the demoralizing defeat,” said a UP Congress office-bearer after the visit of the state incharge Madhusudan Mistry. The Congress, Mistry had announced, will contest the by-elections on its own, discarding its allies Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and Mahan Dal. While the Congress leaders say it was party’s decision to go it alone, sources in RLD say it was a mutually-agreed decision. Mistry had held talks with state-level party leaders on various issues, including preparedness for the by-elections, and it emerged that the desire to go it alone was expressed by most party leaders also. In the Lok Sabha election the Congress had managed to win just two seats Rae Bareli (Sonia Gandhi) and Amethi (Rahul Gandhi). The party, according to UPCC sources, expects to fare better in the by-elections hoping that by the time elections are held the Modi magic would have waned off a little. “Even if we win two or three seats it would have a highly rejuvenating effect,” the UPCC leader said. In early June, all district units and the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee had been dissolved and only the UPCC president Nirmal Khatri a new appointment. All other committees are likely to be constituted by July 24. Mistry said an exercise had been started within the party to look for probable candidates for the by-elections. In BSP, although the party is not contesting the by-election citing its long standing principle, Preparations for the next Assembly election in 2017 have started in right earnest. Soon after the results, party chief Mayawati had sacked senior party office bearers and done away with the zonal coordinator system. It is learnt that the party is focussing in a big way on western Uttar Pradesh to regain political space.