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Journalism of Courage
The BJP’s list of 91 names announced Friday appears to bear the stamp of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, with as many as 11 sitting MLAs dropped in the Gorakhpur region, which is his fiefdom. This is apart from the change in the Gorakhpur Urban seat, where the sitting MLA earlier stepped aside for Adityanath to contest from there, in his first Assembly election.
While BJP leaders say the candidates were changed for the 11 seats, as well as four more where the party lost last time, as they were either ageing or to tackle anti-incumbency, sources admit the party is having to contend with many more aspirants in each seat given the scale of the BJP’s 2017 win. And that many of them are approaching the BJP state unit as well as Adityanath separately.
Of the 62 seats falling in Gorakhpur region, which goes to polls in the sixth and seven phases (March 3 and March 7), the BJP has so far announced 37 candidates. Of these 37, 43% are new faces.
In the 295 names announced so far, the BJP has dropped 56 sitting MLAs.
As CM, Adityanath is a member of the BJP’s state election committee and attends all the meetings related to candidate finalisation, with other leaders like BJP UP president Swatantra Dev Singh and both deputy CMs Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma. A Gorakhpur BJP leader said Adityanath’s say holds sway in the region. “He is the CM and the party’s face for the polls. The situation was different in 2017 when he was only an MP and had limited say in organisational affairs. Then, Maurya, who was the UP BJP chief, and state general secretary (organisation) Sunil Bansal were the key decision-makers from the state unit’s side, including in Gorakhpur,” said the leader, adding that the central leadership still takes the final call.
A BJP leader said: “While making the changes, the party has largely ensured that the new candidates are from the same caste as that of the dropped candidates.”
Among those dropped is two-time BJP MLA from Khajni (reserved) constituency in Gorakhpur, Sant Prasad, who has been replaced by Sriram Chauhan, a sitting MLA from Ghangata seat in adjoining Sant Kabir Nagar district. Chauhan is a minister in the Adityanath government.
Talking to The Sunday Express, Prasad admitted his disappointment. “I would have had no issue if some local partyman had replaced me. I am a loyal BJP worker since 1980 and was elected as an MLA in 1996 as well. I won this seat in 2012 and 2017 consecutively,” he said.
Prasad also pointed out that his Beldar community numbered over 60,000 in the constituency.
A supporter said the BJP would not have it easy in the seat without Prasad, and that it would face tough competition from the woman candidate fielded by the BSP.
Likewise, in adjoining districts, BJP workers are surprised over changes in seats like Kasya and Haata in Kushinagar district and Rampur Karkhana in Deoria. The new faces are little-known in the constituencies and partymen say they will face a tough fight from rival SP candidates.
If change was required, the party should have chosen a loyal leader active in the area and known among the public, a BJP worker said.
