Sympathy, loyalty or emotions? Amethi poll test awaits

While the Congress is banking on its emotional connect with the region, BJP's royal family nominee is banking on loyalty while SP candidate is seeking voters' sympathy

The contest in Amethi, once a Congress bastion, this time resembles the plot of a typical Bollywood 'masala' movie with sympathy, emotions and loyalty all making their way into the election campaign.

The Gandhi family—whose members Sanjay Gandhi, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and his son and former Congress president Rahul Gandhi had all represented Amethi in the Lok Sabha several times—has been seeking to re-establish, what it says, its "emotional connect" with the electorate, who had preferred Union Minister Smriti Irani over Rahul in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

"Amethi is my home and will remain so… I still see the same warmth in the eyes of the people here for me," Rahul had said while speaking at a meeting here a few months back, with his sister and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

Congress leaders have been reminding the electorate about ‘preferential treatment’ they used to get during the rule of the grand old party along with the developmental works undertaken by the Gandhis.

Also Read — Loyalties on test in Congress' bastion of Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Maharaji Prajapati—whose husband and former UP minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati is serving a life term sentence in a case of gang rape of a minor—has been proclaiming the innocence of her husband and banking on the "sympathy" of the voters. ‘’My husband is innocent… he is a victim of a conspiracy... I am certain the people of the constituency know this and will support me,’’ Maharaji said.

She has been appealing to the voters to support her so that she can help the innocent prove their innocence—referring to her husband.

The BJP has fielded one-time Gandhi family loyalist Sanjay Singh, who is a member of the royal family of Amethi, who is banking on the "loyalty" of the people towards the royalty. "Our relationship with the people of Amethi goes back to several decades… my ancestors had served the people of the region and the people here know this," Sanjay Singh said.

Interestingly, two of the main contenders here, Sanjay Singh and Congress nominee Ashish Shukla, had earlier also contested against each other, albeit with Singh on a Congress ticket and Shukla on a BSP ticket, following which he switched to the BJP.

Also Read — 5th phase key for BJP, Cong as UP's Purvanchal goes to polls

Notwithstanding the claims of the contestants, the real issues in this VIP constituency are like any other constituency in the state. "You can see the condition of the roads in Amethi…health facilities are almost non-existent and serious patients have to be taken to Lucknow for treatment," says Raghav Tripathi, a resident.

The common refrain here is that the people will vote on the issue of development and not on the basis of religion or caste though the old-timers say that it ultimately boils down to caste and religion at the eleventh hour.

"Whatever development took place here was done by Congress... the BJP government actually took away many of the projects sanctioned by the Congress government," says Anupam Pandey, a local Congress leader.

The Congress nominee is banking heavily on the support of 80,000 brahmin voters in the constituency besides dalits and Muslims, who have constituted the traditional vote bank of the grand old party here and have a sizable presence.

In the 2017 Assembly polls, the BJP had won the seat, with Sanjay Singh’s first wife Garima Singh being elected. BJP leaders, however, feel that the people will be voting in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

It will be interesting to see which of emotion, sympathy or loyalty ultimately wins out. Polling on the seat will be held in the sixth phase, on Sunday.

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