At a time when many candidates of cosmopolitan constituencies plead ignorance about countrys foreign policy issues,the Indo-US nuclear deal is making a buzz in the dusty and backward Bijnor constituency in Rohilkhand a reserved seat till last elections. The candidate who has made the nuclear deal a talking point is Shahid Siddiqui,former Rajya Sabha MP,who left the Samajwadi Party to join the BSP in July 2008 when SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav suddenly decided to rescue the UPA government from falling. I take up the nuclear deal issue in my campaign and explain to people about the need of power from diversified sources hydro,solar and bio and not nuclear alone. Heavy investment in nuclear energy will divest resources and cannot ensure energy security. We need gas from Iran. The nuclear deal compromised our sovereignty, Siddiqui told The Indian Express. Power is a major issue in Bijnor,where his party chief Mayawati registered her maiden Lok Sabha win in 1989,before losing to the BJP in 1991. The constituency sees eight-hour of power outage on an average daily basis. The nuke deal,said Nationalist Congress Party candidate Kartar Singh Bhadana,is not an issue here. We need power. The source doesnt matter, he added. Muck akin to the flip-flop stand of various political parties over the nuclear deal,other candidates,besides Siddiqui,are known to have changed their political gears with ease. The SP had earlier fielded Bhadana,but replaced him at the last moment with Dr Yashveer Singh,till then a candidate from neighbouring Kairana. Bhadana then promptly joined the NCP. Also,Sanjay Singh Chauhan,currently fighting on RLD-BJP combine,was with the SP till a few months ago. The reason behind this shifting allegiance: With over 3.5 lakh minority and 2.5 lakh Gurjjar votes,the delimitation has made the constituency a lab for Muslim-Gurjjar tussle and parties are trying to conjure up the best caste combination. With three Gurjjar candidates in fray Chauhan,Singh and Bhadana the likely vote split may help the BSP. But Bhadana,who has been camping in Bijnor for the last nine months,rules it out. I have been working here for long. Kheti main kar raha hun,koi dusra fasal kaat kar kese le jayega (I sowed the crop,how can anyone else harvest it), said Bhadana. But Chauhan discounts Bhadanas chances. Riding on a non-existent NCP here,Bhadana is almost like an Independent. Singh too was brought in at the last minute, he says. A minister in Om Prakash Chautala cabinet in Harayana state government,Bhadana later unsuccessfully contested from Dausa in Rajasthan on a BJP ticket in 2004. The seat may also witness polarisation of votes on religious lines,much to the disadvantage of Siddiqui and Congress candidate Saiduzzaman. After Varun Gandhi episode,RLD leaders in western Uttar Pradesh claim that in places where a strong Muslim candidate faces Hindu ones,the latter would vote for the nominees of their own religion. Siddiqui plans to set up Rs 180 crore Dr Ambedkar Institute of Information Technology in the area and Rs 10 crore have already been approved by the state government. About his agenda to bring Bijnor on the IT map,Bhadana says,BSP shows only false dreams to Dalits. The delimitation has also changed the poll matrix of Bijnor,spread across three commissionarates Moradabad,Saharanpur and Meerut. Earlier,the seat comprised five Assembly seats of Bijnor but now has only two. The constituency has got two Assembly segments from Saharanpur and one from Meerut. Results notwithstanding,local Muslims are happy that for the first time a leader of their community could represent them in Parliament. Post-delimitation Bijnor is a clean slate awaiting a new script on May 13. Elections 2009100ConstituenciesWhere the key issues playcandidates* Shahid Siddiqui,BSP* Kartar S Bhadana,NCP* Yashveer Singh,SP* Saiduzzaman,Cong* Sanjay Singh Chauhan,RLD THE BACK STORY2004 Munshiram,RLD1999 Sheeshram S Ravi,BJP1998 Omwati Devi,SP1996 Mangal Ram Premi,BJP1991 Mangal Ram Premi,BJP
