With dreaded dacoit Shiv Kumar Kurmi a.k.a. Dadua pledging support to the Samajwadi Party, there is enough reason for the other parties to feel threatened in the districts bordering UP and Madhya Pradesh where he is said to be in operation.Dadua, known as Veerappan of North India, carries a reward of Rs five lakh on his head and is wanted in 136 cases, including numerous murders and abductions, registered against him at over a dozen police stations in Chitrakoot and Banda. He has been eluding arrest despite a joint operation by the police of the two states. Dadua, who has all along been a BSP supporter, openly backed the party in the last three LS elections, threatening villagers into casting their votes for the BSP candidate, Ram Sajeevan Patel, the sitting MP from Banda. Patel is now seeking re-election for the third time.The robber’s change of heart came immediately after his brother Bal Kumar joined the SP. On Friday, when Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav addressed an election meeting here in support of the party’s nominee from here, Shyama Charan Gupta, among those who shared the dais with him was Bal Kumar. Kumar had contested the previous Assembly polls against SP leader Reoti Raman Singh from Karchana in Allahabad on a BSP ticket.The robber has now pledged support for the SP and, in a signed letter sent to local newspapers, he is said to have said: ‘‘Naya parivartan lana hain, hathi ko maar bhagana hain (We have to bring change, the elephant (BSP symbol) has to be driven away)’’.‘‘Though a fugitive, Dadua roams areas under his influence and threatens people to vote for the SP. We have lodged a complaint with the EC,’’ said Santosh Kumar Gupta, the election agent of BJP nominee Bhairon Prasad Mishra.‘‘The local administration is openly helping the SP,’’ said Congress candidate Prakash Narain Tripathi in a complaint lodged with the election observer here. Sources said that years ago, before he became a dacoit, Dadua worked in Tripathi’s brick kiln.The local administration said that none would be allowed to influence the voters during the elections.
