SIRATHU (Kaushambi): With the sundown as high-octane campaign concludes with blaring loudspeakers going silent in Sirathu, a high profile assembly constituency in Kaushambi district adjoining Prayagraj, three youngsters, riding a motorbike with fluttering BJP and SP flags on each handle, suddenly pass by aptly depicting the flavor of election and the mood on the ground in this otherwise a non-descript block where BJP and SP are locked in a tough fight.
Sirathu, going to polls under Phase-5 on Sunday, is a high stake battle as UP Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya is the BJP candidate here getting a tough challenge by Dr Pallavi Patel, a leader of Apna Dal (Kamerawadi), contesting on Samajwadi Party symbol. Patel is the elder sister of Modi minister Anupriya Patel who heads Apna Dal (Sonelal) and is in alliance with BJP in UP. BSP, which had earlier fielded a Brahmin candidate Santosh Tripathi, has replaced him with Munsab Ali Usmani and Congress has fielded Seema Devi.
Beyond the issues, the caste equation is set to play a crucial role in deciding the outcome in Sirathu. The seat is dominated by two prominent castes—Pasi (scheduled caste) and Patels, Kurmis who make the second largest chunk of OBC after Yadavs in UP. Moreover, Brahmins and Vaishyas (traders community), too, are in considerable number and a deciding factor in Sirathu.
In fact, Kaushambi, known as the land of Buddha and Jain, is a young 25-year-old district that was carved out of Prayagraj on April 7, 1997. It has three Assembly segments including Sirathu. The other two are Manjhanpur, which is also the district headquarter and Chayal. Manjhanpur, the district headquarter, is a reserved assembly constituency. In the 2017 elections, the BJP had won all three segments of Kaushambi. This time, the ruling party has spared Chayal seat for ally Apna Dal (S).
With Scheduled castes dominating the caste cauldron of Sirathu with 44 percent of the total population, OBC make 22 per cent of it. Both Keshav Maurya and Pallavi Patel are OBC. While the Muaryas are 28000, Patels make a good 35,000 of the total population in Sirathu. The general categories are 24 percent of the population with 25,000 Brahmins, 28,000 Vaishya and 6000 Thakurs. Other OBC categories include 12,000 Pals and 7000 Prajapatis. Moreover, 25,000 Yadavs and 55000 Muslims are also there Sirathu.
Keshav Prasad Maurya, BJP’s prominent OBC face, knows well that a win in Sirathu is crucial to his political career irrespective of his party’s performance in the rest of the state.
“He (Keshav Maurya) is Sirathu’s son. He has won this seat earlier also. He is aware of our problems here. I have no doubt about his victory,” says Shankar Lal, a dealer of house material in market.
As soon as one stops at the first grocery shop in the main market area, people smelling the presence of a journalist in their midst started shouting the ‘Jai Shree Ram’ slogan. Umesh, in his early 30s, repeats the catchline popular in Sirathu even before he could be asked anything about the mood. "Jai Keshav, Tai Keshav (long live Keshav, win of Keshav is certain)."
Before Umesh could add anything further, Ashok Yadav, sitting on the other side on a tea-stall, pitches in. "Let him say what he wants to say. Reality will be out on March 10 with results."
On being asked to elaborate, Yadav asserts: "Maurya is losing Sirathu." However, Yadav was interrupted by Satish Chandra Pandey, a saree shop owner. "He (Ashok Yadav) will say this as he is a SP worker and knows that if his party loses this time, they will be finished forever," says Pandey with equal aggression in his tone adding that Maurya is winning hands down.
On the other, Samajwadi Party has thrown its weight behind Pallavi who is seeking a ticket by virtue of being Sirathu’s daughter-in-law as her husband Pankaj Niranjan belongs to this place.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had addressed a rally for Pallavi on Tuesday and on Friday, Akhilesh's wife and former SP MP Dimple Yadav accompanied by Bollywood actor ad SP RS MP Jaya Bachchan descended in Sirathu to seek votes for Pallavi.
Once known to be the stronghold of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Kaushambi is Keshav Maurya’s birthplace. So, the tussle here has turned now out to be between the son of the soil and the daughter-in-law.
"Maurya was born here and Pallavi came later after marriage. Sirathu will go with a son with no love lost for daughter-in-law," says Vandana Kesarwani, a housewife, who had come along with her group of women, to listen to Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah who was addressing a poll rally a few metres away.
As one proceeds towards Prayagraj, many in rural pockets complain of Maurya’s inaccessibility. They feel that being a VIP constituency, he could have developed Sirathu the way Samajwadis have developed Safai and Mainpuri.
Maurya, having his permanent residence in Sirathu, last won from here in 2012, but quit after winning the 2014 Lok Sabha election from Phulpur. In 2017, when he joined the Yogi government, he resigned from Lok Sabha and took the legislative council route to enter the legislature. In the 2017 election, BJP’s Sheetla Prasad defeated SP’s Vachaspati by over 26,000 votes.
However, deep in the rural pockets, people seem to be divided over the prospects of Maurya. While for some, Maurya has done a lot of infrastructural development by getting roads and over bridges constructed in and around Sirathu and also in entire Kaushambi, others feel much more should have been done. Law and order, free ration, uninterrupted power supply, housing for the poor, upcoming medical college are other factors playing out in favour of Maurya.
"Don’t talk about Sirathu. Talk about bigger things in the offing. Talk about the state and the nation. The bridge coming up on river Ganga in Shajadpur, an adjoining block, the upcoming medical will help one and all,” says Pradeep Maurya of Sayyad Rajepur village.
On the contrary, Muslims and Yadavs claim the winds of change are blowing in Sirathu and in the entire UP. “We belong to Khaga in Fatehpur. We had come here to get a pulse of ground in Sirathu. After all Keshav Maurya is fighting from here. But he is nowhere in the fight. Pallavi Patel will sail through,” says Sagir who owns a shop in Khaga in neighbouring Fatehpur district.
Rahul Yadav intervenes: “Change is in the air. No party has ever repeated government in UP. SP will form the next government. Take my words and do give me a call on March 10,” he says in a lighter vein.
As per the common perception, facing a tough challenge in Sirathu, BJP has played its cards strategically in adjoining seats. Expecting the support of upper castes and Scheduled Castes, the party replaced sitting MLA Sanjay Gupta with Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel, an SP leader who is now in Apna Dal (S), a BJP ally, in neighbouring Chayal. The party strategists think that it would keep the Patel voters intact with the BJP in the larger area connected to the BJP and its allies, thus benefiting Maurya.
Similarly, Vachaspati, the SP runner-up in the 2017 election, is a Pasi leader from Sirathu and is now the Apna Dal (S)’s candidate in Bara, a reserved constituency in Prayagraj. BJP sources say his presence will also help Maurya in moving the Pasi community in his favour in Sirathu where Pasis make the largest chunk of Scheduled Cates population. Even BSP’s decision to change its candidate may also work in Maurya’s favour. There may be a split in minority votes between the SP and BSP helping Maurya.