Barely a week to go for first phase, Congress finally shifts focus to west UP

Priyanka has already been actively campaigning in the Eastern and Central UP which go to polls at a later stage. With only a week to go for the campaigning to end, Scindia is scheduled to undertake campaigning in Gautam Buddh Nagar, Ghaziabad and Meerut on April 7.

Moreover, Congress has finally planned a joint rally by Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka and Scindia in Saharanpur, Kairana and Bijnore on April 8. This will be held a day after SP-BSP and RLD alliance hold its rally on April 7.

On the other hand, BJP National President Amit Shah as well as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath have already addressed a slew of rallies in the region.

Of the eight seats, Congress had not contested from Kairana, Bijnor and Bhagpat in 2014 and had left it for its then ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), which has joined hands with SP-BSP alliance this time. Even in this election, Congress has left Baghpat and Muzaffarnagar seats for the alliance.

With Congress not contesting from these two seats where the alliance has fielded Ajit Singh and Jayant Chaudhary of RLD against sitting BJP MPs Sanjeev Balyan and Satyapal Singh, here the fight is going to be between BJP and the alliance candidates.

If performances in the last general election are taken into account, either Congress has not contested from some of these seats or got less than 4 per cent vote share. With the results not looking up for the party, the Opposition is now banking on mathematics of joint candidate of alliance to defeat the sitting BJP MPs on majority of these seats.

“Except Saharanpur, Congress did not have a strong base in any of the remaining seats, which would go to polls in the first phase. While there is some hope in Kairana with Harendra Mallik and in Bijnor with Naseemudding Siddique, it all depends on the local equations. Thus, the party’s focus is more on the Eastern and the Bundelkhand region, where there are more chances of giving a tough fight to the BJP,” said a party leader.

In Muzaffarnagar, while sitting BJP MP Sanjeev Balyan had got about 60 per cent vote share and SP-BSP scored about 36 per cent vote share in the last election, the alliance’s hope is riding on Jat leader Ajit Singh and is also banking on anti-incumbency against the sitting MP.

In Kairana, where BJP has fielded its MLA Pradeep Chaudhary instead of Mriganka Singh, daughter of Hukum Singh, who lost in the bypolls, necessitated by the death of her father.

“It is not true that western Uttar Pradesh has been left by Congress for alliance. While Sachin Pilot will be campaigning in the region on April 5, we are expecting joint rallies by Rahul, Priyanka and Scindia on April 8 in Saharanpur, Bijnor and Shamli (Kairana),” Congress candidate Harendra Mallik told The Indian Express.

He said that not much should be read into the absence of Scindia so far and added that work on the ground was going on like any other party.

In 2014, Congress candidate Imran Masood, who is contesting again this time, had got 34 per cent vote share i.e about 4 lakh votes against BJP candidate Raghav Lakhan Pal, who is sitting MP and is again the candidate this time. Pal had won with 39 per cent votes in 2014 i.e. about 4.7 lakh votes. With the alliance fielding Hazi Fazrul Rehman, Congress is hoping to perform better on this seat.

In Meerut, however, where Congress had got just 4 per cent vote share in 2014, the sitting MP Rajendra Agarwal is up against Hazi Yakoob Qureshi of the alliance. In Ghaziabad, which has a considerable Thakur vote share and BJP is also organising repeated rallies of Adityanath in favour of its sitting MP and candidate V K Singh, both alliance as well as Congress are trying their luck.