Though projected as the OBC mascot of the Congress, Union minister Beni Prasad Verma appears to be facing a tough fight on his home turf in Gonda. Even though Mr Verma is said to have been given a free hand in picking Congress candidates in the area, the Samajwadi Party appears to have made a strong comeback in the political arena, apart from the BSP still holding grounds here.
Sitting in the bustling Gonda bazaar, Sayed Chunnan, summed up murmurs among the people, as he said “we elected him (Mr Verma) in 2009 due to his image of vikash purush (man of development), but none of that has been visible here since then”.
When asked about Mr Verma, people do not miss to remind that he had not been allowed to speak in two rallies in the presence of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and on another occasion with Mr Rahul Gandhi on the dais.
Gonda appears to be a sleeping town, with the district having strong sugarcane farming. However, most of the sugarcane is taken to neighbouring Balrampur where a number of sugar mills are located. The most important issue among the people appears to be that of scarcity of electricity. Mansa Ram and Pankaj Ram of Karnailganj in Gonda claim there is no women’s college in the district, while lack of industry is badly hurting employability of the youth. They claimed that though Mr Verma promised all these, none have been fulfilled so far.
Avdhesh Singh Rathore of Lalemau village claimed that the issue in the election is that of development and the slogan doing the rounds is “Raja nahi kaam chahti hai janta (not kings but people want development)”.
What appears to be hurting Mr Verma is SP strongly wooing Thakurs and Muslims, who are numerically strong, while dalits and Kurmis are other significant communities. SP, after fielding Raja Anand Singh from one of the Assembly constituency, who was an in-law of former PM V.P. Singh, appear to have emerged top contender for the Thakur vote base. People on the grounds claim that the fight is largely between SP and BSP, with Congress having chance only on a couple of seats.