Ghaziabad bypoll: Adityanath to hold roadshow in ‘linepaar’ areas today

The frequent visits by Adityanath and senior BJP leaders are being viewed as a sign that the BJP is worried about its prospects in Ghaziabad by the party’s opponents

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath will hold a public rally in areas beyond the railway tracks in Ghaziabad, commonly called as the “linepaar” localities, on Saturday to campaign for Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Sanjeev Sharma in the assembly bypoll scheduled for November 20.

Police put up barricades in Vijay Nagar and Pratap Vihar areas ahead of chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s visit to the city on Saturday. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

Adityanath had visited Ghaziabad on November 8 too for campaigning, but that time his public rally was organised in Nehru Nagar, said party functionaries.

The ”inepaar” areas comprises localities such as Crossings Republik, Behrampur, Bagu, Chiristian Nagar, Vijay Nagar, Pratap Vihar and Siddharth Vihar, among others, which house a sizeable population of backward, dalit and minority voters.

In the run-up to the by-polls, the chief minister visited Ghaziabad on September 18, October 7 and on November 8. A host of BJP leaders have also visited Ghaziabad to woo voters in favour of Sharma. On Thursday, deputy chief minister Brijesh Pathak held a rally at Behrampur.

However, the frequent visits by Adityanath and senior BJP leaders are being viewed as a sign that the BJP is worried about its prospects in Ghaziabad by the party’s opponents.

“Frequent visits by Adityanath indicate that the BJP is worried about the Ghaziabad seat, especially after the Samajwadi Party fielded Singhraj Jatav, a dalit, as its candidate. They never held any election rally in the “linepaar” areas during the past elections. Our candidate is resident of a ”linepaar” area, which has a large presence of backward, dalit and minority voters. That is why the BJP is holding a mega election in this area for the first time,” said Faisal Hussain, district chief, Samajwadi Party (SP).

He said areas across the tracks are marred by lack of civic amenities and basic infrastructure.

“Ghaziabad has a BJP MP, MLA and mayor, and yet, those areas have remained undeveloped more or less. So, the BJP is trying hard to woo voters there. But, voters know that they have suffered government and administrative apathy for years now,” Hussain said.

BJP, meanwhile, said the CM’s roadshow will cover a distance of about 1.2km.

“This is the CM’s first ever election rally in ”linepaar” areas. Deputy CM covered a portion when he held rally in Behrampur on Thursday. The CM’s roadshow will cover major areas of Vijay Nagar and Pratap Vihar. We have arranged to welcome him at 100 different points. This will be done by members of local RWAs, traders, associations of people of Uttarakhand and Purvanchal, besides others,” said Pradeep Chaudhary, media spokesperson, BJP city unit.

“The CM himself conducted an election event on November 8 in Nehru Nagar in city area. Now, our focus is to build up momentum and garner as votes from across the tracks as well,” Chaudhary said.

During the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, BJP was banking of winning a majority of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh but had to contend with just 33 seats, while the INDIA bloc partners, the Samajwadi Party and the Congress, made huge inroads and secured 37 and six seats, respectively.

The Ghaziabad assembly seat has 461,644 voters with 14 contesting candidates, including Sharma from the BJP, Singhraj Jatav from the SP and PN Garg from the Bahujan Samaj Party, among others.

The bypolls were earlier scheduled for November 13 but later pushed to November 20 in view of Hindu and Sikh festivals.

The seats going for bypoll in Uttar Pradesh include Meerapura, Kundarki, Ghaziabad, Khair, Karhal, Shishamau, Phulpur, Katehari and Majhawan.

Political experts said the “backward, dalit, minority” formula, commonly called the PDA formula (pichhda, dalit, alpsankhyak), is certainly a worrying factor for BJP.

“The Ghaziabad assembly seat is important as it is a major city in NCR. The CM is trying hard to campaign there and has visited Ghaziabad more than twice. PDA is certainly at the back of the mind of the BJP leaders and that is why the CM is being brought again. The turnout in the bypoll will also decide the fate of contesting candidates,” said KK Sharma, professor and head, history department, CCS University, Meerut.