BJP ropes in MP CM Mohan Yadav for campaigning in SP bastions in UP

Lucknow: In an apparent bid to make a dent into arch rival Samajwadi Party's core vote bank, BJP has decided to deploy Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav in the 'Yadav' dominated Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh in the forthcoming Parliamentary elections.

The MP CM was present, when BJP candidate and UP minister Thakur Jaiveer Singh filed his nomination papers from Mainpuri, considered to be an SP bastion, on Monday. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav's wife Dimple Yadav was the SP nominee from Mainpuri.

Mohan Yadav also inaugurated the new election office of the BJP in Mainpuri. Although he was also scheduled to address a public meeting in the town, it was cancelled reportedly owing to the low crowd turn out. According to the BJP sources here, some local SP leaders also joined the saffron party on this occasion.

Local BJP leaders said that the meeting had to be cancelled as the MP CM arrived several hours behind schedule and rejected reports that low turnout was the reason behind its cancellation.

BJP sources here said that Mohan Yadav would be campaigning extensively in UP and would be especially addressing meetings in the 'Yadav' dominated constituencies in the central and eastern region of the state.

Earlier, as part of the saffron party's outreach to the 'Yadav' community, the MP CM had visited Azamgarh, another SP stronghold, and held meetings with local leaders of the community and the party. Azamgarh was represented by SP chief Akhilesh Yadav in the Lok Sabha before he resigned from the seat and opted to enter the UP assembly.

Azamgarh has been a traditional SP bastion and even in the 2019 LS polls, SP and its then alliance partner BSP had won both the seats in the district. 'Yadav' and Muslim community voters are deciding factors on both the seats in the district. The BJP wrested the seat from the SP in the by-poll when Bhojpuri film actor Dinesh Lal Yadav defeated Akhilesh's cousin Dharmendra Yadav.

Mohan Yadav, who was an MLA from Ujjain South assembly constituency in MP, was also related to UP as his wife hailed from Sultanpur district of the state.

BJP sources said that the MP CM would be visiting other 'Yadav' dominated LS constituencies of Firozabad, Kannauj, Farrukhabad and others and hold meetings there to woo the voters of the Yadav community.

Although the BJP has been able to consolidate its hold on the OBCs in UP since 2014 LS polls, the 'Yadav' community continues to be solidly behind the SP and the saffron party's attempts to dent the same has not so far succeeded.

The BJP leadership in the state, however, thinks that Mohan Yadav's deployment in the 'Yadav' dominated seats in UP may help in making a dent into the traditional SP vote bank. Senior SP leader and party general secretary Shivpal Singh Yadav, however, rejected assertions that the MP CM could make a dent into his party's core vote bank.