BSP’s Dalit vote bank sees split in Speaker’s seat

Sukhdeo has been shifted to Deedarganj,which has come into existence in place of erstwhile Saraimeer seat. His present seat – Lalganj – has become a reserved seat after delimitation.

“I have never seen division in Dalit votes in this village in the last two decades. This time Dalits even voted for the Ulema Council candidate Bhupendra Singh alias Munna,” said 60-year-old villager Ramdhani. Another villager Ram Chandra Rajbhar also confirmed the division in the Rajbhar votes. A section of Rajbhar voters made their choice in the Bhartiya Samaj Party candidate Sushila Rajbhar. “Bhartiya Samaj Party has been working to bag Rajbhar votes since the results of 2007 Assembly elections. This party’s candidate had got more than 10,000 votes in the last Assembly elections,” Ramchandra said.

The crack in the Dalit votes in Bhado is certainly not a good sign for Speaker Rajbhar,who is BSP’s most prominent face for this particular caste in Eastern UP. Rajbhar,who was earlier associated with Akhil Bhartiya Rajbhar Parishad in early 1980s,was brought to the BSP by its founder Kanshiram.

Although most of the Dalit voters remained tight-lipped over the division in BSP’s core votes,they did sympathise for the party. “We have no grievance against the BSP. But we were against Sukhdev Rajbhar,” one Akhilesh Ram said.

According to villagers,Sukhdev Rajbhar had an inkling about the unhappiness among Dalit voters against him. “It was on his initiative that the BSP leadership dropped the name of party’s old horse Harishchandra as BSP nominee from the Lalganj seat. Sukhdev ensured a party ticket to Heera Lal Gautam for Lalganj seat at the last moment,” a Dalit voter said on condition of anonymity.

While Muslims are in majority in Bhado village,which has over 4,000 voters,Rajbhar and Dalits are present in almost equal numbers.

On the contrary,BSP’s decision to deny ticket to Harsihchandra Gautam has almost backfired in Lalganj Assembly constituency. “The trend of voting among Dalit voters in both Deedarganj and Lalganj has got affected by the denial of party ticket to Harishchandra,” one local reporter,whom this reporter met at Varadawan,said. According to him,Congress candidate Balihari Babu,who is an old horse of BSP,has also made a dent into the BSP Dalit vote bank.

What is good for the BSP is that majority of voters in Rajbhar’s native village have made their choice in BSP candidate Heera Lal Gautam. “Sukhdev Rajbhar maintains a good relation with his villagers at Badgahan,” said Hanif Ahemad. “Thoda Bahut hai (There are signs of slight cracks in the BSP’s Dalit vote bank in his village),” he replied to a question.

Ironically,Sukhdev appeared to be locked in a triangular contest in a constituency like Deedarganj which has considerable population of Rajbhar and Dalit voters,besides Muslims.

What kind of beti is Uma? asks Kalyan Singh

Hardoi: Former UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh on Saturday hit out at Uma Bharti for being with the BJP,saying despite calling herself his daughter,she was working with a party which was trying to “kill him politically”. “Uma calls herself as my beti (daugther) but it is an irony that she is working with the BJP,which is trying to kill me politically”,the former Hindutva leader said,addressing an election meeting here. “What type of daughter is she,who is working against her father? Whether she wins or gets defeated (in UP elections),BJP will send her to Madhya Pradesh again”,Singh said.