Lucknow: The Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party might have announced their alliance for 2019 Lok Sabha Polls much before Lok Sabha elections but the major concern for both the sides was the smooth transfer of votes. The chiefs of both the parties were seen making an appeal to their cadres to give respect to each other from time to time, as the ground-level mobilization of voters in each other’s favour was crucial to vanquish the BJP.
However, the real winds of change have blown after the second phase of polling in the state when BSP chief Mayawati and SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav came together on a stage almost after a gap of 25 years at Mainpuri on April 19. The respect shown from Mayawati towards Mulayam Singh Yadav and Singh thanking the BSP chief for campaigning for him meant a lot to the cadres of both the parties.
Just outside the venue, a 68-year-old Ram Khilawan who had come from a nearby village hailed both the leaders for coming together to stop the BJP juggernaut. “Both Mulayam and Mayawati are big leaders, it is good to see them come together as it was required to stop the BJP. Only our Dada (Mulayam Singh Yadav) can do our development,” he asserted.
Standing right behind him was 45-year-old Anil, a BSP supporter who is from a different village but had come on the same bus. “Now SP and BSP are not different but one. We were completely ignored by this government and only a selected few were given benefits of Ujjwala and toilets in our village,” he alleged.
Answering on the question if Ujjawala LPG connections were not a big achievement for the saffron party, Anil said, “Those who got the cylinders are not using it, who has got so much of money to refill them? Do you know the price of a single gas cylinder today? It is not for people like us.”
Meanwhile, just outside the rally venue and near to the bus station in Mainpuri, Pyare Lal, a cobbler who puts up his stall for past many years, is wearing a Samajwadi Party cap. “I am a Samajawadi party supporter and that is why I am wearing this cap. I have witnessed all the rallies by Dada (Mulayam Singh Yadav) but this time I have a fractured leg and hence I wasn’t able to attend the rally. Few days back, Yogi also came to the same rally venue and all he could attract was a crowd of nearly 150 people,” says Lal as two young boys with a saffron ‘gamcha’ look at each other and interrupts Lal by saying ‘Chacha Ayega To Modi Hi’ (Uncle, Eventually Modi will come).”
Even Muslim cleric Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahali feels that the coming together of Mayawati and Mulayam will have a long term implication in the politics of the state.
Speaking to media, he said, “The way in which Mayawati and Mulayam have come together has actually given it a stamp from the stalwarts of both the parties. It will surely have a long term implication on the alliance candidates. The candidates in the remaining phases of the polling are certainly going to benefit from it.”
Transfer of votes is important as in the third phase of polling, ten seats which are going for polling in UP constitute the potato belt, once considered as the Yadav stronghold.
Mainpuri also goes for polling in the third phase along with Pilibhit, Moradabad, Rampur, Sambhal, Firozabad, Etah, Badaun, Aonla and Bareilly. Out of these parliamentary seats, the contest in Rampur where Azam Khan is pitted against Jaya Prada, is bound to be very interesting. Firozabad will witness Shivpal Yadav contest against his own nephew Akshay Yadav and Badaun will see Dharmendra Yadav contesting against Sanghmitra Maurya, daughter of UP minister Swami Prasad Maurya.
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