In the pre-dominantly rural Mohanlalganj (reserved) parliamentary constituency, villagers are nowadays busy harvesting wheat crop.
Away from the media glare, it is in these fields that villagers often enter into political discourse.
Topics range from PM Narendra Modi’s beneficiary schemes for rural poor to stray cattle to BJP’s unfulfilled promise of Ram Mandir among other issues.
Kaushal Kishore, the BJP’s sitting MP who is seeking re-election, is pitted against BSP candidate CL Verma and Congress’s RK Chaudhary. In the SP-BSP alliance, the Mohanlalganj seat has gone to the BSP’s quota. Congress’s RK Chaudhary was the BSP candidate and the runner-up in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
At Bakshi Ka Talab, Awadesh Kumar, 45, is sipping tea at a roadside tea stall. Six people are sitting around Awadesh who is reading an old local Hindi daily that prominently carried the news of an impressive nomination procession of union home minister Rajnath Singh and Kaushal Kishore on April 16 in Lucknow.
“In Lucknow, Rajnath Singh is comfortably placed against his rivals. But here (Mohanlalganj) situation is different this time. It will not be easy for the BJP to retain the seat,” opines Awadesh.
{{/usCountry}}“In Lucknow, Rajnath Singh is comfortably placed against his rivals. But here (Mohanlalganj) situation is different this time. It will not be easy for the BJP to retain the seat,” opines Awadesh.
{{/usCountry}}Interrupting Awadesh, another local Suresh Singh says, “In my village, many people have got houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. Many have also received ₹2000 each in their bank accounts as promised by the Modi government.” He adds that it will not be easy to beat the BJP candidate.
Rakesh Maurya, another resident of BKT tehsil, is worried about the stray cattle menace.
“Under the Yogi Adityanath government, all illegal slaughterhouses have been shut as the government has been very strict on cow slaughter. This has compelled farmers to let loose their non-productive cattle thereby triggering stray cattle menace,” Rakesh says. “Ujjawala scheme provided much relief from the ordeal of cooking food in earthen furnace. But there is no provision for free refill of the cylinder,” claims Saraswati Devi, 48, a native of Bakshi Ka Talab.