Consensus on Cong setback for BJP

8220;From Mayawati8217;s BSP, we never had any real hope. She is anyway for the Dalits. But we surely had great expectations from Mulayam Singh Yadav. He has let us down completely. All his promises and tall claims have proved to be mere lip-service. He has failed us,8221; says Mohammad Tahir Shah Naqshbandi, a community leader of Bulandshahr.

The community was particularly put off by the spectacle of their messiah,Mulayam, refusing to let a Congress Government assume power at the Centre after Vajpayee lost the trial of strength. This enabled the BJP regime to continue with caretaker status till the elections.

The Muslims 8212; 19 per cent in Bulandshahr 8212; formalised their decision to cast their lot with the Congress this time during a meeting on Wednesday. 8220;The elders of the community have decided to vote for the Congress. The fact that the Congress has fielded a Muslim candidate, Shahid-ul-Hasan, also helps,8221; Naqshbandi explains.

8220;Our votes get divided because Muslim leaders are not united. Even now apart from Shahid-ul-Hasan, there is Naaz Mohammad and Imtiaz contesting on the BSP ticket and as an Independent candidate, respectively. Though some votes are bound to get divided, by and large the Muslim population has decided to vote together and vote for the Congress,8221; says Aslam Khan.

In the last elections, BJP candidate Dr Chhatarpal had won easily with a big margin. The SP was number two. With the Muslimsnow swinging the Congress way, Dr Chhatarpal would find it difficult to reclaim his seat.

Says businessman Jai Narain Lodi: 8220;The people are really cut up with him. He is hardly ever seen or heard. How can an MP who cannot even make promises in the constituency or give any statements to the press open his mouth in Parliament. There have been instances during his campaign when people did not hide their displeasure. He was not allowed to enter Vera Ferozepur village and his car was stoned in Gesupur. He has had to apologise at so many places.8221;

None of the party hoardings in Bulandshahr have Dr Chhatarpal8217;s picture; only Vajpayee figures in them. People say the party is trying to use the Vajpayee factor to salvage the situation. 8220;He might just scrape through because of neither himself, nor Kalyan Singh but Atal Behari Vajpayee,8221; says Surinder Kumar.

In the adjoining Khurja constituency too 8212; which is one of the largest in the country and was a part of the Bulandshahr Lok Sabha constituency till 1957 8211;it8217;s going to be a direct contest between the BJP8217;s Ashok Pradhan, the sitting MP, and the Congress8217;s Satya Behn. Though it is a reserved constituency with an 18 per cent Scheduled Caste SC population, the BSP is not likely to be among the top two. The BSP was number two last time but Pradhan had won with a huge margin of over two lakh votes.

8220;But the fight is expected to be tough this time. The Muslims here 21 per cent have also decided to try out the Congress. There was a meeting in Khurja rural two days ago and it was decided to vote for the Congress. We will not let the BJP take advantage of the division in Muslim votes,8221; says Peer Khan, a local Muslim leader. Though the BSP might still get a majority of the the Dalit votes, the fight is likely to be between the BJP and the Congress. The SP seems to be nowhere in the picture.

8220;As of now it seems to be a close BJP vs Congress battle with a small tilt towards the former,8221; says elderly Chaudhary Raghuvendra Singh, whose poll predictions have beenknown to be quite accurate.