Elections 2019: Barabanki, Slippery Ground of BJP’s Own Making?

Barabanki: The Awadh region, which is going to polls on May 6, has become a crucial zone for all the political parties in Uttar Pradesh, but the dominant Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has made the Barabanki seat a slippery ground for itself. The BJP, this time, has fielded Upendra Rawat, who is the sitting MLA from the Zaidpur Vidhan Sabha constituency, denying the ticket to sitting lawmaker Priyanka Singh Rawat. Even as Priyanka has registered her protest against the decision of the party many a time, the BJP has refrained from changing its selection.

Priyanka’s disappointment has been visible numerous times on the field, as she even broke down in front of her supporters once. Ever since this development, she has started maintaining distance from the party, and is hardly ever seen attending party’s programmes. A few days back, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited this parliamentary constituency for campaigning, she was not seen anywhere near the stage. According to sources, the panicked party workers had to reach her residence to conving her for attending the event.

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According to party insiders, the party bosses then promised Rawat a fair deal after elections, but it seems like Rawat is in no mood to compromise. The grapevine has it that she has met senior Congress leader P L Punia, whose son Tanuj Punia is contesting from this seat.

When asked about her alleged meeting with Punia, Priyanka denied it, but accepted that she was not happy with party’s decision to field another candidate instead of her.

“I have been doing a lot for this constituency, but at the eleventh hour, the party changed its decision. I am a committed party worker, but I am not able to accept this, and there should have been a reason behind this. I have not been given any reason this decision. It is disappointing for me,” she said.

While, on the other side, a senior BJP leader, Ranjeet Bahadur Srivastava, was asked not to attend any party event after one of his anti-Muslim speeches went viral on the social media. There is a speculation that he has been silently supporting the Congress contestant since then.

Srivastava is also the husband of Barabanki municipality chairman Shashi Srivastava, and has a huge voter base in this constituency. Bahadur, since the last one month, has been spotted often with Congress leaders. When asked about this, he simply said to this reporter that people from other parties are also his friends, and he has been meeting them without any political reasons behind it.

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“They are my friends and people should not make a mountain out of mole. I am doing what I have been directed by my party. I am not attending any event,” he quipped.

Meanwhile, BJP candidate Upendra Rawat is not that active on the field for reasons best known to him. People from even Zaidpur – his Assembly constituency – barely recognise his face. He is being perceived as one of the weakest candidates in the fray.

Barabanki-based senior political commentator, Hussain Rehan Mustafa, said that the present circumstances are going to cost the BJP which had won this seat in 2014.

“Upendra is such a weak candidate that not even his neighbours know him, while Priyanka, who has massive support on the ground, is not at all giving any kind of support to the party. The Congress candidate Tanuj is taking the advantage of these situation.”

Newsclick went to different regions of this district, and after talking to over 100 people from the marginalised sections, found out that people on the ground are actually not aware about the alliance and the candidate.

It is a rural constituency with an approximate literacy rate of 62.59%. In 2014, there were 17,21,278 voters, of which 9,25,944 were male, 7,95,265 were female, and 69 voters of the third gender. Barabanki has an estimated Scheduled Caste population of 25.77% and a Scheduled Tribe population of 0.01%.

Priyanka Singh Rawat of BJP had won in this seat defeating the Congress in 2014.

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