Campaigning for bypolls to Bilari: BJP’s riot-tainted minister, MLA split-to raise or not to raise communal issues, riots

Party state secretary and election management committee head for Bilari, Ashwani Tyagi, said the bypoll is “a matter of prestige for the party” but there “is no intention to polarise the voters” in the constituency.

The party, however, is banking heavily on Hindu votes in the constituency and keeping that in mind has roped in its Jat leaders such as Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan and Thana Bhavan MLA Suresh Rana for campaigning. Both Balyan and Rana had been jailed in cases related to 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots — state government had also invoked NSA against Rana.

The two leaders now stand divided on the issue that need to be raised during campaigning. While Balyan campaigned in the area targeting the Samajwadi Party government in state and Congress, Rana will reach there after two days and will raise the issues of rising incidents of communal riots in UP and administration removing a loudspeaker from a temple in the district’s Kaanth area in 2014.

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“I am going to campaign in Bilari where I will seek reply from Akhilesh Yadav government on more than 400 communal riots that occurred in the state in past four years. I will raise the issues of Muzaffaranagar riots and also Kanth where communal tension had occurred in 2014 on the issue of removal of loudspeaker from a temple. Police had lathicharged innocent protesters, including Dalits,” Rana said.

Balyan, meanwhile, said there was no need to raise “such issues”. “There is no need to raise such issues. While canvassing, I raised the issue of development and law and order because the Samajwadi Party government has failed on both the fronts. We are telling masses that only BJP can give a development-oriented government in UP. Poor law and order, bad condition of roads and power crisis are major public issues in the election,” the Union MoS for Agriculture, who campaigned in the area on Sunday and Monday, said.

About the connection of law and order problem with communal incidents, Balyan, who is also MP from Muzaffarnagar, said there are some criminal elements who have been creating tension to cover up their wrong acts and SP government was protecting them for vote-bank politics. He claimed that his party was in direct fight with SP in Bilari and BJP will win the seat.

The seat fell vacant after sitting SP MLA Hazi Mohammad Irfan died in a road accident in March this year. SP has fielded Irfan’s son Mohammad Faheem from the seat while Congress has given ticket to Shishu Pal Jatav, a Dalit.

BJP has also roped in its MPs Satyapal Saini (Sambhal), Satyapal Singh (Baghpat), Dharmendra Kashyap (Aonla), Rajya Sabha member from Rajasthan and party national general secretary Bhupender Yadav for campaigning in Bilari. Party’s state president Keshav Prasad Maurya, who has a pro-Hindutva image owing to his RSS background, will also be reaching Bilari on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Ghazipur MP and Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha is camping in Jangipur, the other seat going to polls on May 16. Sinha is the local MP and is touring villages to seek votes for party candidate Ramesh Singh. The Union minister’s prestige is on stake there because BJP has never won the Yadav-dominated Jangipur seat, where bypoll was caused following death of former minister and SP MLA Kailash Yadav.

BJP has roped in Ghosi MP Harinarayan Rajbhar and Chandauli MP Mahendra Pandey for campaigning in Jangipur. Party state secretary and election committee head for Jangipur, Sameer Singh, said that BJP wants to “snatch the seat from SP” and “prove that Akhilesh Yadav government has lost public support” before general elections.