Just a day before the scheduled byelections to Kairana and Noorpur Lok Sabha seats in western UP on 28 May, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a public rally in nearby Khekra town of Bagpat district after inaugurating the Eastern Peripheral Expressway.
After two important bypoll losses for the BJP in the state, and amid opposition show of unity, the 27 May rally is important for both sides. And even as the opposition is calling the rally an attempt by the BJP to woo voters ahead of the elections, ruling party leaders and workers are making all-out efforts to make it a success.
Having faced a setback in the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha byelections, the BJP does not want to take any chances in Kairana and Noorpur.
The party is looking at the PM’s visit to the neighbouring Khekra town in Baghpat district on 27 May with hopes that Modi charisma would work again and ensure victory for their candidates.
READ | Kairana, Noorpur bypolls: RLD, SP join hands to take on BJP
With low voter turnout considered a major reason for BJP’s defeat in Gorakhpur and Phoolpur, the party now hopes Modi’s popularity would work as a driving force for its supporters to come out in big numbers to cast vote.
The PM will address a big rally in Khekra after inaugurating the Eastern Peripheral Expressway. The BJP is all set to project inauguration of the expressway as another landmark achievement of the BJP rule.
“We are contesting this election on the issues of development and law and order,” said BJP’s Western UP president Ashwani Tyagi.
Countering the claims of development by the BJP, Rashtriya Lok Dal spokesperson Sunil Rohta said people were forced to travel on the terribly potholed Delhi-Shamli road while BJP was trying to portray itself a development-oriented party.
Raising the issue of payment for sugarcane, Rohta said the three sugar mills in Kairana constituency owed over Rs 700 crore to farmers, and that was “sufficient to expose” BJP’s tall claim of payment of dues in 15 days.
BJP leaders are, however, confident that the PM would make some announcement for farmers on 27 May and that would drift them towards the party. Western UP is an agriculture belt and sugarcane is a major cash crop in the region. Opposition parties here are taking on the BJP on issues of farmers, especially pending payment of sugarcane dues. UP Sugarcane Minister Suresh Rana is an MLA from Thanabhawan constituency of Kairana Lok Sabha constituency.
Byelections to both the Lok Sabha seats of Kairana and Noorpur were necessitated after the death of the elected representatives (both from BJP). In Kairana, the party has fielded Mriganka Singh, daughter of deceased MP Hukum Singh, who is eyeing sympathy votes too. She is however facing a strong challenge from Tabassum Hasan, former MP and wife of late MP Munnawar Hasan. Tabassum is an RLD candidate who has the support of SP, Congress and BSP.
Campaigning rigorously in favour of the party candidate, RLD chief Ch Ajit Singh, son of Ch Charan Singh, has been invoking “the ideology of Ch Charan Singh” while appealing to the people to vote for Tabassum Hasan.
Kairana constituency has over 2 lakh voters who have traditionally voted to RLD since Charan Singh’s time. But after the Muzaffarnagar riots in 2013, a sizeable number of Jat voters deserted Ajit Singh and his son Jayant Choudhary and voting for BJP, which resulted in a thumping victory for the saffron party in 2014.
But entering into an alliance with the SP for this byelection, Ajit Singh and Jayant are confident of the revival of RLD and are working hard to ensure their victory. They are trying to polarise Muslims and Jats who dominate Kairana.
The PM’s visit may, however, dampen their prospects. The campaigning will end on 26 May. “The PM’s visit has been planned on 27 May, which cannot be a coincidence,” said an RLD leader.
Kairana is just adjacent to Baghpat where the PM will be coming on 27 May. Noorpur is also part of the region and is likely to be affected. Here, BJP’s Avni Singh, wife of deceased party MP Lokendra Singh, is facing challenge from Naemul Hasan of SP who is being supported by the RLD.