Dynasty Watch

It's Rai versus Rai in the battle for the legacy of the Lion of Purvanchal'', Kalpnath Rai, in the Ghosi Lok Sabha constituency. The 12...

It8217;s Rai versus Rai in the battle for the legacy of the 8220;Lion of Purvanchal8221;, Kalpnath Rai, in the Ghosi Lok Sabha constituency. The 12 lakh-odd voters, who by and large remained faithful to Kalpnath Rai when he was in prison during the 1996 elections, are faced with the dilemma of choosing between his widow, Sudha Rai, fielded by the Congress, and his son from his first marriage, Siddharth Rai, the Janata Dal United candidate. Kalpnath Rai had been assured a Congress ticket after he organised a successful rally at Mau in June which was attended by Congress President Sonia Gandhi. So his widow, Sudha Rai, was allotted the ticket though Siddharth had launched a campaign to secure it for himself. A disgruntled Siddharth then turned to JD U leaders who had helped his father in the last elections after the Congress had shut its doors on him because of the allegation that he was involved with the Dawood Ibrahim gang.

Sudha Rai, who married Kalpnath Rai after his first wife died in 1983, still believes thatSiddharth will withdraw from the contest before the polling day. 8220;Mere bete ko George aur Nitish ne gumrah kiya8230;Woh ghar laut aayega,8221; George and Nitish have misguided my son, he will return home, she says.

Development has always been the key to this constituency where Kalpnath had to his credit a number of projects like a 400 KVA sub-station at Kasara, a Doordarshan studio, Central School, community hall, hospital, sugar research institute and several industrial projects. Both Sudha and Siddharth are trying to exploit Kalpnath8217;s contribution to Ghosi where SCs account for 23 per cent votes, Muslims and Ahirs 14 per cent each, Bhumihars and Brahmins around seven per cent each and Koeris, Bhars and Rajputs six per cent each.

Of the five Assembly segments falling under this constituency, the BJP, which is backing Siddharth, holds Ghosi, Mau, and Rasara while Samajwadi Party holds Nathpur and Sagadi. Sixty per cent of the 1,250 booths in the constituency have been identified as sensitive whereparamilitary forces would be posted to ensure free and fair polls, district officials said.

Making the contest five-cornered are Balkrishan Chouhan BSP, sitting Rajya Sabha member, Samajwadi Party nominee Tara Singh Chauhan and CPI candidate Atul Kumar Anjaan.

Balkrishan had finished second, polling 2,02,000 votes, while Kalpnath secured 2,23,000 votes to win in their last encounter. Balkrishan this time too is putting up a formidable fight, banking on the scheduled castes who alone account for 23 per cent votes in the constituency.