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Battleground Varanasi set to see biggest show of strength
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav among others to campaign in temple city
VARANASI With five of the seven phases over, the focus of UP polls has shifted to battleground Varanasi that’s set to witness the biggest show of strength with top leaders landing in the city for campaigning.
With 54 assembly constituencies, including eight in Varanasi, going to polls on March 7 in the seventh and last phase of UP elections, political parties have stepped up their poll campaigns in Kashi, the centre of faith for millions of people.
Union home minister Amit Shah arrived in Varanasi on February 28 and held a meeting with Kashi region BJP office-bearers regarding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s programme scheduled here on March 4 and 5 when he will campaign for BJP candidates. Shah left for Manipur on March 1 morning but will be on a whirlwind tour of Purvanchal on March 2. He will address public meetings in Chandauli, Jaunpur and Mubarakpur of Azamgarh.
Likewise, defence minister Rajnath Singh will address public meetings in Mirzapur and Sakaldiha of Chandauli.
On March 3, Samajwadi party chief Akhilesh Yadav, TMC chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, along with RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary will be in Kashi. They will address a public meeting in Shivpur and are likely to hold a road show in Varanasi South assembly seat.
The Varanasi South assembly seat – a stronghold of the BJP for over two and a half decades – is set to witness an interesting contest. The BJP had won the seat in consecutive elections. This time, the BJP has fielded UP minister Neelkanth Tiwari and the Samajwadi Party has given ticket to Kishan Dikshit. The Congress and the BSP have fielded Mudita Kapur and Dinesh Kasaudhan, respectively. Locals predict a direct contest between SP and BJP here.
Mahesh Yadav, a resident of a locality in Dashashwamedh Ghat area, said: “This time, the contest is between the BJP and SP. But the SP will create history.”
“Unemployment is a major issue among educated youths. The BJP government could not create employment opportunities for them,” said Lallu Yadav, a resident of Pandeypur area.
The BJP has fielded two UP ministers –Ravindra Jaiswal from Varanasi North constituency and Anil Rajbhar from Shivpur assembly constituency. Against Jaiswal, the SP has fielded Ashfaq Ahmad Dablu while Gularana Tabassum is Congress candidate from Varanasi North.
Rajbhar is facing a tough challenge from SP-SBSP alliance candidate Arvind Rajbhar in Shivpur where the BSP has fielded Ravi Maurya.
All major political parties, including BJP, SP, BSP, Congress and AAP have fielded candidates in all eight assembly constituencies of Varanasi.
In the previous assembly election, the BJP and its ally Apna Dal (S) and the previous ally SBSP won all eight seats (BJP-6, Apna (S)-1 and SBSP-1).
Out of 54 seats, BJP won 29, while its ally Apna Dal (S) won four and SBSP bagged three seats. The Samajwadi Party won 11, BSP five and Nishad Party got one seat.
“Leaders of all political parties know the importance of Varanasi in the politics of eastern UP – it is pivotal. Therefore, leaders of different parties have to camp and campaign in and around Varanasi in order to woo voters,” said Prof Kaushal Kishore Mishra, political analyst.
The Sewapuri seat is also set to see a tough contest with Nilratan Patel of the BJP contesting against the SP’s Surendra Patel (a former minister). BJP’s MLA Awadhesh Rai is contesting to retain the Pindara seat where the Congress has fielded Ajai Rai and SP-Apna Dal (K) alliance has given ticket to Rajesh Kumar.
The ruling party has fielded Tribhuvan Ram on Ajagara (reserve) seat, where he is facing challenge from BSP’s Raghunath. The SP-SBSP alliance has fielded Sunil Kumar. In Cantt, the Congess has fielded former Varanasi MP Rajesh Mishra and the BJP has given ticket to MLA Saurabh Srivastava, while the SP has fielded Puja Yadav.
In Rohania, BJP-Apna Dal (S) alliance has fielded Sunil, while SP-Apna Dal (K) has fielded Abhay Patel.
