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It’s BJP’s Yadav face vs SP’s might in Azamgarh
A symbol of the Samajwadi Party’s clout in eastern Uttar Pradesh politics, the Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat was won by the BJP’s Dinesh Lal Yadav Nirahua, a Bhojpuri actor-turned-politician, two summers ago, by a margin of about 8,000 votes.
A symbol of the SP’s clout in eastern Uttar Pradesh politics, the Azamgarh seat was won by the BJP’s Dinesh Lal Yadav Nirahua, a Bhojpuri actor-turned-politician, in the June 2022 Lok Sabha bypoll
Rajesh Kumar Singh
rajesh.singh@htlive.com
Azamgarh: In a prestige battle, the Samajwadi Party’s Yadav family is camping in Azamgarh, ramping up its mission to win back the parliamentary seat from the BJP, two years after a shock loss to the saffron party in the June 2022 Lok Sabha bypoll.
A symbol of the SP’s clout in eastern Uttar Pradesh politics, Azamgarh was won by the BJP’s Dinesh Lal Yadav Nirahua, a Bhojpuri actor-turned-politician, two summers ago, by a margin of about 8,000 votes. He is in the fray again against the same rival, two-time former MP Dharmendra Yadav, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav’s cousin.
Nirahua is the BJP’s lone Yadav candidate in U.P. The SP has fielded five Yadav candidates, all from the Yadav family.
Apart from Akhilesh Yadav, the party’s chief national general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav, national general secretary Shivpal Yadav, the party’s sitting Mainpuri MP Dimple Yadav, Budaun candidate Aditya Yadav, Firozabad nominee Akshay Yadav and other members of the family have moved into Azamgarh to give momentum to the party campaign for Dharmendra Yadav. The constituency goes to polls in the sixth phase on May 25.
Just months before the Lok Sabha bypoll, the SP won all 10 seats in Azamgarh district in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly election. Five of these seats are in the Azamgarh Lok Sabha constituency and five in the Lalganj Lok Sabha seat that is part of the district.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav won the seat and, five years later, Akhilesh Yadav emerged victorious in 2019 even as the Modi wave swept the state. Akhilesh vacated the seat in 2022 following his election to the state assembly from Karhal in Mainpuri and his party lost the ensuing by-poll.
Jolted by the bypoll defeat and anxious to fortify its position before the Lok Sabha election, the SP took former BSP MLA Shah Alam aka Guddu Jamali on board. He had polled 2,66,210 votes in the Azamgarh bypoll as his presence in the fray divided the Muslim and OBC votes, paving the way for the BJP’s victory.
With Jamali in the party fold now, the SP aims to consolidate its hold on Muslims, 16% of voters in the constituency. The SP is also relying on the support of 17% Yadavs as well as non- Yadav OBC voters.
“In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav countered the saffron wave here by winning the Azamgarh seat even as the BJP grabbed the remaining seats in east UP. In 2019, the SP chief not only repeated the feat of his father by retaining the Azamagrh seat, but also spearheaded the SP- BSP alliance’s fight to snatch Ghazipur, Jaunpur, Lalganj and Ghosi seats that were bagged by the BSP,” said Om Prakash Tewari, a teacher at the Government Inter College, Azamgarh.
“The SP contested the 2022 assembly election in alliance with the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) led by Om Prakash Rajbhar, who has a hold on OBC Rajbhar voters in east UP. Rajbhar parted ways with the SP and is a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government. His son Arvind Rajbhar is contesting the Ghosi Lok Sabha seat as an NDA candidate. The BJP may make a dent in the non-Yadav OBC support base of the SP in the 2024 Lok Sabha election,” he said.
The fact that the SP’s Phulpur Pawai MLA and four- term former MP Ramkant Yadav, known for his muscle power, is lodged in jail in a criminal case may also affect the party’s fortunes. Ramakant wields influence among the Yadav voters and in 2014, he contested as the BJP candidate and gave a tough fight to SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav.
As for the BJP candidate Dinesh Lal Yadav Nirahua, he is banking on the development projects and welfare schemes of the BJP government to retain the seat. The BJP alliance with the Nishad party and SBSP has given him the opportunity to consolidate his hold on non-Yadav OBC voters. The BJP hopes to get support of the upper caste Rajputs and Brahmin voters, considered the party’s traditional support base.
The BSP that won the seat in the 1989 and 2004 Lok Sabha elections, as well as the 2008 bypoll, has fielded Mashood Ahmed, a Pasmanda Muslim leader. Mayawati is working on the Dalit-Muslim formula to win the seat.
Hitting out at the BJP government in a public meeting in Gopalpur on Wednesday, Akhilesh Yadav said it has cheated youths and farmers.
The BJP slogan of “400 paar” (its tally crossing 400) will prove a hoax, he said.
His wife Dimple Yadav spoke in the local dialect, Bhojpuri, highlighting the SP’s association with Azamgarh.
On the other hand, chief minister Yogi Adityanath said the Yadav family members have come from Saifai to Azamgarh to cheat the local people.
“The voters should be cautious of their plan, they will misguide them to get votes. Once the election is over, the Yadav family will leave Azamgarh,” Adityanath said at a public meeting in the Sagari town nearby.
For his part, Nirahua accused the SP of promoting dynastic politics by fielding family members from various seats that have a large chunk of Yadav voters.
“The family is only interested in seeking Yadav votes, but not promoting young leaders from the community. The whole family is camping in Azamgarh to defeat me but with the development works of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Yogi Adityanath, I will win the election,” he said.
