LUCKNOW: With just three days left for Kairana and Noorpur bypoll campaign to end, opposition leaders, especially Samajwadis, are conspicuous by their absence from the poll scene while the BJP has
pulled out all stops and its campaign is being led by CM Yogi Adityanath himself along with a battery of senior leaders, MPs, ministers and MLAs to see their candidate through.
Despite a grand show of unity and bonhomie among various party leaders at the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has decided against campaigning for ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) in Kairana byelections due on May 28. The SP chief may not even campaign for his own candidate in Noorpur leaving everything to SP cadre and RLD leadership.
Even the Congress and the BSP, which have not fielded their candidates and have extended unannounced support to the RLD and SP candidates in Kairana and Noorpur respectively, have refrained from rallying behind the joint opposition candidates openly.
As per the highly placed sources in SP, Akhilesh Yadav decided not to go to Kairana amidst the public rallies being addressed by CM Yogi Adityanath who is raking up 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots and exodus issues with full might blaming
Akhilesh government for the flare-up then. Confirming the decision taken by SP leadership to avoid public rallies instead prefer door-to-door contact programme, SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said it was part of party’s strategy.
He, however, claimed that SP chief was in touch with party workers in both the constituencies and mobilising them to muster support for both the opposition candidates.
Similar sentiments were shared by RLD spokesman Anil Dubey who claimed that his leaders Ajit Singh and his son Jayant Chaudhary were carrying out more personalised campaign by visiting voters village by village instead of holding big rallies like BJP.
As per the SP sources, Akhilesh has decided to stay away from campaigning despite being projected as a star campaigner by RLD, fearing communal polarisation which may favour BJP which is eyeing Jat and Gujjar votes. Dalits and Muslims alone account for around 50% of the electorate in Kairana and Noorpur.
Interestingly, Congress and BSP, though observing guarded silence, have believably exhorted their cadre to work for SP and RLD candidates on the ground.
Meanwhile, addressing another rally in Kairana on Thursday, CM Yogi claimed that SP chief was avoiding campaigning for the reason that he could not dare to face the people who suffered from communal riots during his regime.
The CM said that while his government had established the rule of law in the state and the criminals were migrating, he won’t let any force destabilise the state again in the name of caste and
communalism.
Referring to the issue of cane farmers and row over Jinnah’s portrait, The CM reiterated his government’s commitment to cane farmers but, at the same time, Jinnah’s portrait could not be allowed to decorate the wall anywhere in the country.
BJP sources said the party is relying on consolidation of Jats, Gujjars and OBCs to take on the opposition. The party is also upbeat after the defection of lone RLD MLA Sahendra Singh Ramala and senior leader Chaudhary Sahab Singh, both from Baghpat, the home district of RLD chief Ajit Singh, to the saffron camp.
Moreover, PM Narendra Modi’s proposed rally in neighbouring Baghpat during the inauguration of the eastern peripheral expressway is slated on May 27, a day before polling in Kairana and Noorpur, is also of significance. Though RLD had approached the Election Commission to get PM’s rally cancelled, the EC rejected the demand on the ground that the rally was not being organised in poll-bound districts.