BJP hopes for BSP turncoats

Feb 06, 2012 |

Age Correspondent

Sravasti

Hundreds of East Asian tourists throng Sravasti each day to seek salvation. It was here that Lord Buddha spent 24 years meditating on a land donated by a local king thousands of years ago.
While the Congress wrested the Lok Sabha seat from here in 2009, the BSP had called the shots in the 2007 Assembly elections. The BJP is seeking to regain the constituencies in the land of Buddha and is banking on the BSP turncoat and aggressive polarisation of Brahmins in its favour. Situated close to the Nepal border, Sravasti has gained from regular flows of foreign Buddhist tourists.
In the Sravasti Assembly seat, which the BJP had won seven times before losing it to the BSP in 2007, Ram Phiran Pandey and Samajwadi Party’s Ramzan Khan are locked in key battle. The BSP has fielded Vinod Tripathi, while the Congress has pitted Kuldeep Choudhary in the fray. BSP’s sitting MLA Ram Sagar Akela is contesting from the neighbouring Balrampur reserved seat.
In the Brahmin Ikauna block, Raju Shukla, a local, declares “Hum bhajpaayee haen, pura area bhajpayee hai, hamlog babhan haen (We all are BJP people. We are brahmins).” Krishna Bahadur Pathak said that the BJP candidate is favourite for being a local, as all other candidates have come from outside. However, Rajesh Singh in another neighbouring village claimed that the SP could gain from the split of the Brahmin votes, as both the BJP and the BSP candidates are from the same caste.
In neighbouring Bhigna Assembly seat, the BJP is hoping that sacked minister in the BSP-led state government Daddan Mishra, who is party candidate here, will help the party gain the seat. The BSP has changed its candidate four times in a span of a month here.
Tarun Chandra Pandey in Bhigna claimed that former BSP minister Padam Sen, having considerable influence here, is rooting for the BJP. While the BSP’s fourth and current candidate is Rahim Khan, the Congress has given ticket to Aslam Khan here. However, the contest here appears to be between the BJP and the SP.

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