This story is from October 12, 2017

Mayawati shifts Azamgarh rally date to Oct 24

Mayawati shifts Azamgarh rally date to Oct 24
BSP chief Mayawati
LUCKNOW: BSP chief Mayawati has postponed her Azamgarh rally on October 18, presuming that it won’t draw much crowd due to Diwali celebrations planned by the Aditya Nath Yogi government in Ayodhya on the same day.
After resigning from the Rajya Sabha on July 18 in protest against not being allowed to speak on Dalit atrocities, Mayawati had announced that she would hold rallies in divisional headquarters of Uttar Pradesh on the 18th day of every month.
The first rally was held in Meerut on September 18.
BSP state president Ram Achal Rajbhar told TOI on Wednesday, “We don’t want to disturb party workers during the festive season. So we changed the Azamgarh rally date on October 24. Dates of her rallies in the coming months would remain unchanged.”
Mayawati will address rallies in Kanpur on December 18 , in Aligarh on February 18 next year, in Faizabad on March 18 and in Lucknow on May 18.
The UP government has announced Diwali celebration on the banks of Saryu river in Ayodhya on October 18. Yogi, UP governor Ram Naik and senior ministers will be present at the temple town where prominent buildings along the Saryu Ghat will be decorated.
Sources said the BSP leadership was aware that the BJP’s Diwali celebration in Ayodhya would draw big crowd not only from Faizabad but also from the neighbouring district of Azamgarh.

The rally, as per the BSP schedule, planned to draw party supporters in large numbers from not only Azamgarh but also PM Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency Varanasi and Yogi’s former parliamentary constituency Gorakhpur.
Azamgarh is politically significant for the BSP as the district contributed four out of 19 seats Mayawati’s party won in the 2017 assembly elections. In comparison, the BJP, which got an overwhelming majority of 325 seats in UP assembly, won only one seat from the district.
The district is also crucial for Mayawati on her caste configuration—it has a sizeable population of dalits and Most Backward Castes, the two key vote banks of the BSP. Azamgarh has a significant Muslim population, which she may seek to consolidate ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
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