Prominent rivals give state BJP chief jitters

Instead of touring entire UP to ensure victory for his party8217;s nominees, state BJP president Kesari Nath Tripathi has been forced to restrict his might for the Allahabad South segment

Instead of touring entire UP to ensure victory for his party8217;s nominees, state BJP president Kesari Nath Tripathi has been forced to restrict his might for the Allahabad South segment, which he has been representing since 1989. Pitted as he is against two powerful opponents8212;Rita Bahuguna Joshi of the Congress and Jamnotri Devi of the Samajwadi Party8212;Tripathi is probably facing the toughest electoral battle of his political life.

Tripathi has reasons to worry. His victory margin has been on a downslide since 1996, and he won the 2002 Assembly elections by a margin of just 2,000 votes. That year, Jamnotri Devi8217;s husband Shyama Charan Gupta put up a fight, but Tripathi managed to scrape through.

This time, Tripathi has almost been promising the moon to voters. A defeat at this juncture is bound to put a question mark on his continuance as the BJP top boss in the state. Also, nothing seems to be working in his favour right now. He is already facing the ire of a section of party workers who are protesting the fact that four seats out of the total 11 in Allahabad were left for the Apna Dal. His differences with BJP heavyweight and former national president Murli Manohar Joshi is also well known. Tripathi was a prominent High Court lawyer while Joshi was a professor in Allahabad University before both joined the Hindutva party.

Congress nominee Rita Bahuguna is also facing a rebellion within her own rank after prominent Congress leader Ashok Bajpai quit the party to join the BSP.

8220;I won the mayoral contest as an Independent and now I am being backed by a national party which has its own battery of committed workers .Developments like Ashok Bajpai quitting the party may have a temporary impact,8221; said Joshi. In a strange coincidence, Joshi is once again pitted against Jamnotri Devi. During the mayoral polls, the two were opponents.