BJP faces fractured opposition in Hamirpur by poll

LUCKNOW: The BJP will face its first acid test on Monday when Hamirpur goes to by poll, necessitated following conviction of sitting BJP MLA Ashok Singh Chandel in a 22-year-old murder case. Riding high on over whelming performance in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir and completion of two-and-a-half year of rule in UP, the BJP will face an otherwise fractured opposition with the two regional giants, SP and BSP, breaking their tie up they stitched to arrest the juggernaut of the saffron party in the general elections.
While the BJP has placed its bet on a Thakur, Yuvraj Singh, the SP and Congress have fielded OBC candidates -- Manoj Prajapati and Hardeepak Nishad, respectively. The BSP has played the Muslim card by fielding its zonal coordinator Naushad Ali in a bid to corner minority votes.
Despite its defeats in the byelections in Gorakhpur, Phulpur, Kairana and Noorpur last year, the BJP is confident of retaining the Hamirpur seat. UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh said that the voters would not be swayed by caste politics of the opposition parties and would instead give weightage to the governance of Yogi Adityanath government in the state and Narendra Modi government at the centre. "A number of projects including an expressway and defence corridor had been initiated by the state government for the Bundelkhand region. People understand which party thinks of their welfare," he said.
BJP sources said that the party hopes of cornering the upper caste votes while relying on division of OBCs and Muslim vote bank amongst the opposition parties. The SP leadership, however, maintains that there would be no division of votes. "We would be getting votes of every section of society. The result would show that," said SP state president Naresh Uttam Patel, while speaking to TOI.
The BSP, which is contesting a by poll after a gap of more than a decade, banks on consolidation of Muslims and its core dalit vote bank. BSP state president Munquad Ali said that their would not be any division of Muslims. "Earlier there was a possibility of Muslims getting divided but now they know that their welfare lay in siding with the BSP," he said. Ali said that his party stood for the welfare of Sarv Samaj and therefore its candidate would garner votes from a cross section of communities.
The Congress leadership hopes of getting the local support in a considerable way. UP Congress committee general secretary Dwijendra Tripathi said that the party candidate is a local worker of Congress and wields considerable influence in the region. "It is the BJP and other opposition parties which does politics of caste and religion," he said.
Political experts said that a four cornered fight in Hamirpur would set the tone for all political parties in the by polls for 11 seats due next month. "The political scenario has changed completely after SP and BSP broke their tie up. It would be a four cornered fight in all 13 seats, including Hamirpur," said an expert.