Cross-voting SP MLAs bring to the fore ‘upper caste’ challenge for party

Incidentally, two of these five represent Assembly segments which are contiguous with the parliamentary constituencies of Amethi and Raebareli, the two seats on which most of the hopes of SP ally Congress ride in UP.

The apparent defection of five SP upper caste leaders comes at a time when Akhilesh is in the cross hairs of many of them for reiterating constantly his party’s outreach towards what he has deemed the “PDA” – Pichde (backward), Dalits and Alpsankhyak (minorities) – since June last year. A section of upper caste SP leaders had earlier expressed apprehensions that the PDA could send an exclusionary message to the tribals and upper castes.

Following the “backlash”, Akhilesh had clarified that the A in PDA also included agde (forward castes), adivasi (tribals) and aadhi abaadi (women).

Of the suspected cross-voters, Manoj Pandey, Rakesh Pandey and Vinod Chaturvedi are Brahmins, Rakesh Pratap Singh and Abhay Singh are Thakurs. Puja Pal belongs to the OBC category while Ashutosh Maurya is a Dalit.

The biggest embarrassment for the SP came from its chief whip and Unchahar MLA Manoj Pandey, who resigned from the post minutes before the election on Tuesday. Seen as a Brahmin face of the party, he was the first SP leader to “disagree” with then SP leader Swami Prasad Maurya’s “objectionable” comments on the Ramcharitramanas. “People in India and even a large number of people abroad read, accept and follow Ramcharitmanas. We all respect it and granths (holy books) of other religions too,” he had said.

BJP leaders, however, said Manoj was a natural ally of the party, as he was “their man”. “Before joining the SP in 2006, he was the chairman of Raebareli Nagar Palika as a BJP leader. Last year, his aide contested for the post on the SP ticket but finished third behind the Congress and BJP,” a BJP leader in Raebareli said.

Unchahar falls under the Raebareli Lok Sabha seat, seen as a Congress bastion where the SP has not fielded candidates in the past in solidarity with the Gandhi family.

Rakesh Pratap Singh, whose constituency Gauriganj falls under the Amethi Lok Sabha seat, told reporters before going to cast his vote that he would listen to his conscience before exercising his franchise. “Ram kan-kan mein hai, Ram man-man mein hai (Ram is in every element, Ram is in everyone’s mind),” he said. Like Raebareli, the SP has refrained from fielding candidates from Amethi as well.

Jabalpur MLA Rakesh Pandey, who was also seen with the BJP, is the father of BSP MP Ritesh Pandey, who joined the BJP on Sunday. Speculations had been rife that the senior Pandey would switch over to the BJP after his son had joined the party.

Goshaiganj MLA Abhay Singh posted “Jai Raghunandan, Jai Siya Ram” on his social media handles ahead of voting, hinting that he may vote for the BJP.

SP spokesperson Rajeev Rai said personal ambitions and pressure forced MLAs to cross-vote. “It cannot be said they voted against the PDA. In fact, some of them (cross-voters) belong to the PDA. On the other hand, many who voted in favour of the SP are from upper castes.”

Two legislators of Rajput leader Raghuraj Pratap Singh aka Raja Bhaiyya-led Jansatta Dal Loktantrik (JDL), including him, also voted in favour of the BJP’s candidates. The JDL has been angry with the SP over Akhilesh keeping his distance from the party over Raja Bhaiyya’s strongman image.