In a U-turn,BJP decides to contest,but candidate misses deadline

The party leadership were left scrambling for answers. BJP state president Laxmikant Bajpai alleged that about 20 unidentified motorcycle-borne youths stopped their candidate at three places en route to Kannauj district headquarters in a conspiracy to prevent him from filing the nomination. But he was only 10 minutes late,Bajpai added.

He asked Jagdev to lodge a complaint with the district magistrate. “I have informed the Chief Electoral Officer and he has sought a report from the DM,” said Bajpai.

However,Chief Electoral Officer Umesh Sinha said DM Selva Kumari J had said that the BJP candidate reached the election office at 4.30 pm. “The candidate admitted before the DM that he got the party ticket in Lucknow at 12 noon and then left for Kannauj,” the CEO said.

Further,the BJP candidate reportedly admitted before the DM that nobody stopped him on the way. “A detailed report on the matter is awaited from the DM,” the CEO said.

On Tuesday evening,the BJP’s state election committee had decided not to contest the Kannauj by-election and,instead,fully concentrate on the urban local body elections. However,as the news flashed in the media,a top central leader called up Bajpai and expressed unhappiness over the decision,it is learnt.

Bajpai was told that if the candidate of a regional party (Samajwadi Party) was elected unopposed in a state like UP,it would be a shame for a national party like the BJP which,unlike the Congress,had no understanding with the SP. Bajpai was told that the BJP had got 1.53 lakh votes in Kannauj in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections and around 2.13 lakh votes in the five Assembly constituencies there a few months back.

Overnight,Jagdev,who had been block president in Kannauj in 1998,was selected as the party candidate. Bajpai said he was given the party symbol at 6 am and then left for Kannauj.

As for the change in the party decision,Bajpai said it was made “following pressure from party workers of Kannauj”.

Narendra Tomar,BJP general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh,said,“Our candidate was stopped from filing nominations. We will take a full report from the candidate and the state unit and will complain to the Election Commission. It’s clear that the Samajwadi Party’s culture has not changed,but we don’t know who stopped our candidate Jagdev.”

However,the fact that the BJP was not going hammer and tongs at the SP indicated that there could be more to the matter.

BSP stays away to ‘expose ruling SP’

The BSP seems to be willing to wound the SP,but is afraid to strike.

After criticising the ruling party almost daily since the budget session of the Assembly began 10 days ago,the BSP on Wednesday — the last day for filing nominations — announced that it is not contesting the Kannauj Lok Sabha byelection.

In a statement explaining the decision,a BSP spokesperson said they wanted to expose the ruling Samajwadi Party’s claim that it was fielding the Chief Minister’s wife Dimple Yadav to ensure the area’s development. “It is to be seen what development Akhilesh Yadav,who has been MP from Kannauj thrice,will carry out in his old Lok Sabha constituency now,” the spokesperson said,adding that by the time of the general election,the SP’s idea of development would become obvious to the people of Kannauj. He said the BSP had also decided not to contest the Manth Assembly bypoll in Mathura,which is scheduled later this month.

The spokesperson said that the people of Mainpuri,which SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav represents in the Lok Sabha,and those of Sambhal,which he had represented in the past,already know the kind of development SP undertakes. “The fact is that except for doing some work in his home district Etawah,Mulayam neglected Mainpuri and Sambhal even when he was chief minister of the state,” the spokesperson said. By fielding Dimple in Kannauj,the Samajwadi Party was only promoting its old tradition of nepotism,but it was talking of development,he added.

The spokesperson said the SP’s development is like the development carried out by the Congress in Amethi,Rae Bareli and Sultanpur,about which the people of those areas know very well.

The spokesperson alleged that after the SP assumed power,anarchy had gripped the state,criminals were being released,cases against them withdrawn,welfare schemes had been stopped and even communal violence had taken place. But the SP president was urging the people and the opposition to give his son six months. The statement said development for the SP meant “family prosperity”,and for the Congress and BJP it meant development of capitalists. Only the BSP believed in social change and economic uplift of the long-suffering and exploited sarvasamaj.