Lucknow: Realising that the Samajwadi Party (SP) bastions in central Uttar Pradesh are the biggest obstacle in its mission to sweep the state in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls, the BJP plans to all guns blazing in these constituencies.
The saffron camp has deployed its star campaigners to hold public meetings in order to woo the electorally influential 'Yadav' community.
The saffron party has also been attacking the SP, whose core vote bank of 'Yadav's claim to be the descendents of Lord Krishna, for having an electoral alliance with the Congress, which did not "believe" in the "existence" of Rama and Krishna.
Etawah, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Kannauj are some of the Lok Sabha seats which are considered to be the bastions given the sizable strength of the 'Yadav' community there. In the 2019 LS polls, which the SP and BSP had contested in alliance, the BJP had won Etawah, Firozabad and Kannauj seats but had lost in Mainpuri. BJP nominees' victory margin at Firozabad was 28 thousand and at Kannauj it was only 13 thousand.
Interestingly, SP president Akhilesh Yadav's uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav, who rebelled and formed his own outfit but had since returned to the SP, had contested from Firozabad and secured 91 thousand votes effectively ensuring the defeat of the SP nominee Akshoy Yadav, the son of SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav. Shivpal had then also campaigned against the SP in Kannauj and Etawah.
As Shivpal has now joined hands with Akhilesh and has been campaigning extensively in the region, the SP is now hopeful of a better performance in Firozabad, Etawah and Kannauj. In fact, sources in the SP said that Shivpal's return to the party fold might have played a role in Akhilesh's decision to contest from Kannauj.
Sensing that a united SP could impact the prospects of the party candidates on Etawah, Firozabad and Kannauj seat, the BJP had deployed Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav to campaign on all these seats and some others, including Mainpuri. Mohan Yadav was also present when BJP candidate Jaiveer Singh had filed his nomination papers from Mainpuri.
UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday addressed an election meeting at Jaswant Nagar assembly segment in Mainpuri Lok Sabha constituency where he slammed the SP for ignoring the 'Yadav' community in distribution of tickets.
''For the SP the only Yadavs are the family members of Mulayam Singh Yadav,'' the chief minister said.
He also said that the 'Yadavs' were the descendants of Lord Krishna but the SP, which claimed to be the messiah of 'Yadavs', had sided with Congress, which did not ''even believe in the existence of Rama and Krishna''.
Adityanath also sought to drive a wedge between Akhilesh and Shivpal and claimed that the latter had been 'sidelined' within the SP and likened him to someone who attended a 'puja' ceremony as a mere spectator and was given 'churan' (prasad) at the end.
Union home minister Amit Shah is scheduled to address an election meeting at Etawah on Sunday. MP CM Mohan Yadav was also likely to address election meetings in Etawah, Firozabad, Mainpuri and Kannauj in the days to come, BJP sources here said.
The SP leaders, however, appeared to be confident that with Shivpal on their side again, the party would easily win Firozabad, Etawah and Kannauj this time.