Lucknow: Political equations on the seven assembly seats in Kushinagar district have changed with former union minister RPN Singh joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
In the 2017 assembly election the BJP bagged five seats- Padrauna, Khadda, Fazilnagar,Kushinagar and Hatta while its ally the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) captured one seat- Ramkola and one seat- Tamkuhi Raj went to the Congress. Labour and employment minister, Swami Prasad Maurya who was contesting from Padrauna seat, led the charge of the BJP, mobilizing the other backward class (OBC) voters in the district.
After Maurya switched to the Samajwadi Party (SP), it seemed that the BJP would face difficulty in repeating its performance in the district that has a large chunk of OBC voters. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav projected Maurya as a prominent OBC face of the party in the 2022 UP assembly elections. However, the BJP turned the tables on the Samajwadi Party by inducting RPN Singh who comes from the OBC- Sainthwar community that has a sizeable presence in eastern UP districts of Kushinagar, Gorakhpur, Deoria and Maharajganj.
Even as the BJP, SP and BSP are yet to announce candidates on the seven seats in Kushinagar that will be going to poll in the sixth phase of the election on March 3, the churning among the political parties to win the support of the OBC voters has started. “To check the drift of the OBC voters to the SP after joining of Swami Prasad Maurya, the BJP might field RPN Singh or his family member from the Padrauna assembly seat. The party central leadership had held discussions with Singh as well as chief minister Yogi Adityanath over the strategy in Kushinagar district,” said a BJP leader.
The leaders close to Singh are likely to be fielded on a few seats that have strong OBC presence, particularly Kurmi, Sainthwar and Kushwaha communities. Congress district unit president, Manish Jaiswal who was the party candidate from Padrauna seat has already resigned from the primary membership of the party.
{{/usCountry}}The leaders close to Singh are likely to be fielded on a few seats that have strong OBC presence, particularly Kurmi, Sainthwar and Kushwaha communities. Congress district unit president, Manish Jaiswal who was the party candidate from Padrauna seat has already resigned from the primary membership of the party.
{{/usCountry}}More backward community leaders were likely to join the BJP, he said.
A scion of the Padrauna royal family, RPN Singh enjoys influence over dalit, upper caste and Muslim voters along with the OBC. To consolidate its hold over the OBC voters made in the 2017 assembly election, the BJP is likely to project Singh as an OBC face of the party in eastern UP region. “Although chief minister Yogi Adityanath has a considerable influence over the backward community in the region, the BJP does not have an OBC leader of RPN Singh’s stature in the area,” said Dharmesh Singh, a BJP leader.
A three-term MLA from Padrauna assembly seat, Singh had also won from Kushinagar Lok Sabha seat in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls. He defeated Swami Prasad Maurya who contested on the BSP ticket. He lost the 2014 Lok Sabha election when Modi wave swept the state but still gave a tough fight to his BJP rival Rajesh Pandey. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Singh had polled 2.84 lakh votes and had stood third. His father CPN Singh had represented Padrauna twice (1980, 1984) in Lok Sabha. He was also a union minister of state in the Congress government in 1980.