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Zahoorabad poised for a high-profile battle
The contest in Zahoorabad constituency of Jaunpur has multiple interesting elements, with all the three candidates--the BJP’s Kalicharan Rajbhar, BSP’s Syeda Shadab Fatima, and SBSP’s Om Prakash Rajbhar having been MLAs from here.
Lucknow: Zahoorabad, a constituency in Jaunpur going to polls in the last and final phase, offers one of the most-watched battles among the total 54 constituencies. Here, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar, the sitting MLA, is locked in a triangular contest with rivals, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidates.
The contest has multiple interesting elements. One, all the three candidates--the BJP’s Kalicharan Rajbhar, BSP’s Syeda Shadab Fatima, and SBSP’s Om Prakash Rajbhar have been Zahoorabad MLAs. Kalicharan won the seat twice in 2002 and 2007, Shadab Fatima won it in 2012 and Om Prakash Rajbhar clinched it in 2017. Secondly, all three have changed camps: Kalicharan Rajbhar was Zahoorabad’s BSP MLA from 2002 to 2012, Shadab Fatima was SP MLA from the seat from 2012 to 2017, while Om Prakash Rajbhar won the seat as SBSP candidate but BJP ally in 2017.
Om Prakash Rajbhar snapped ties with the BJP and allied with the SP for the 2022 polls, Kalicharan Rajbhar ditched the BSP and the BJP fielded him to win the seat, and Shadab Fatima who moved from SP to Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia (PSP-L) is now the BSP candidate, attempting to win the seat again.
Om Prakash Rajbhar and Shadab Fatima have an uncanny political similarity. Both became ministers after winning elections and both were dismissed by the then chief ministers. Shadab Fatima, during the Yadav family feud in 2016, was ‘identified’ with the then PWD minister and Akhilesh’s uncle Shivpal Yadav. The then chief minister Akhilesh Yadav had dismissed Shivpal and her from his ministry shortly before the 2017 elections. Similarly, Om Prakash Rajbhar fell out with the ally BJP soon after the Yogi government came to power and he became a minister. Rajbhar, a backward leader in the eastern UP, rebelled against the BJP government purportedly over the issues of the backward community and eventually, Yogi dismissed him soon after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
The two Rajbhars and Shadab Fatima are heavyweight leaders in Ghazipur district.
Om Prakash Rajbhar’s game-plan was fine for retaining his seat with the support of Rajbhar (an OBC caste) and other OBC castes in the constituency, as well as Muslims. The constituency, with a 2.75 lakh total electorate, has approximately 80,000 Rajbhars, 65,000 Yadavs, 25,000 Muslims, 20,000 Dalits, 15,000 upper caste Hindus and roughly 25,000 other non-Yadav OBCs (Bind/Nishad, Prajapati, Gond).
“My father will win the seat easily with the massive support of Rajbhars, Yadavs, other non-Yadav OBCs and Muslims”, said Anil Rajbhar, the son of Om Prakash Rajbhar and SBSP’s national secretary.
Observers say that Om Prakash Rajbhar, despite Shadab Fatima as a contestant on the seat, should be able to win the support of Muslims because of his good relations with the Mukhtar Ansari family which is politically influential in Ghazipur and Mau.
Shadab Fatima turned out the last-minute surprise BSP candidate as originally, she did not wish for an SP alliance ticket for the Zahoorabad seat, but hoped to get the PSP-L (an SP ally) ticket for Ghazipur Sadar constituency which she won as SP candidate in 2007. Shivpal allied his PSP-L with the SP, but his party could get only one ticket--that is--for Shivpal only for his Jaswant Nagar seat in Etawah.
Om Prakash Rajbhar, since his rebellion with the BJP for raising OBC issues, including caste census (for reservation benefits to OBCs as per their proportion in the population) and aligning with the SP, has emerged as a tall leader in OBC politics in the state.
The fate of Om Prakash Rajbhar, Kalicharan Rajbhar and Shatab Fatima will be sealed by the electorate on March 7.
