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BJP keeps its cards very close to the chest
The BJP has also kept the candidature from Rae Bareli a top secret. There is chatter that the party will declare the candidate only after the Congress names its contestant
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday declared the names of seven of the 12 seats in Uttar Pradesh that had not yet been announced, including the Samajwadi Party bastion of Mainpuri, apart from Balia, Ghazipur, Machhlishahr, Kaushambi, Allahabad and Phulpur.
However, all eyes are on who will represent Kaiserganj and Rae Bareli, the two seats that will go to polls in the fifth phase on May 20. While BJP’s strongman and former wrestling federation chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh who has been accused of sexual harassment is the sitting MP from Kaiserganj, Congress leader and former president, Sonia Gandhi represented Rae Bareli till recently; she is now a Rajya Sabha MP.
Given the seriousness of charges against six-term MP Singh, the BJP is under pressure to deny him a ticket. Although he refutes the charges and has called it vendetta, a section of party leaders feels that Singh’s candidature will send out a wrong message to the electorate, especially when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s focus has been on women empowerment.
The government’s flagship schemes such as Poshan Abhiyan, ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’, in addition to schemes such as loans for self-help groups, training and skilling programmes for women have been designed with an eye on women vote bank. The party has reaped the benefits of nurturing the vote bank in the last general election as well as a bunch of state polls.
It now fears that giving a ticket to Singh, who has been pushing the leadership to consider his clout while deciding the ticket, would send out a wrong message. There is also a buzz that the party may find a way out by giving the ticket to a consensus candidate, an aide or a family member.
The BJP has also kept the candidature from Rae Bareli a top secret. There is chatter that the party will declare the candidate only after the Congress names its contestant from the seat, considered as the Gandhi family borough.
There has been speculation that Rahul Gandhi may contest from there in addition to Wayanad in Kerala, which he currently represents.
BJP’s woes
The party has had to change two candidates for their anti-women stance. While Bhojpuri actor Pawan Singh had to be dropped as the candidate from Asansol in West Bengal following outrage on social media over his misogynistic songs, Barabanki candidate Upendra Singh Rawat pulled out after objectionable pictures of him were posted online. The latter has been replaced by Rajrani Rawat.
