UP's Purvanchal has a key role to play in Bengal polls

LUCKNOW: UP's Purvanchal, the cluster of eastern Uttar Pradesh districts, has a key role to play in West Bengal elections happening a thousand kilometres away.
As almost every village in the eastern UP has some of its families living in the eastern India state, both BJP and Trinamool Congress have roped in their cadre from Purvanchal to woo the voters.
UP CM Yogi Adityanath, the star campaigner for the BJP, hails from Gorakhpur, the undeclared capital of Purvanchal.Apart from swinging Hindu voters in general in favour of the BJP, the party also bank on him to win over the people from Purvanchal, says a political analyst.
The workers in UP unit of TMC, on the other hand, have been asked to search for their relatives, even the remote ones, staying in Bengal, get in touch with them and explain to them the schemes and welfare measures "Didi" has introduced in their favour.
Neeraj Rai, UP TMC president, said, "Jab ek rishtedaar doosre rishtedaar ko batayega ki sach kya hai toh baat samajh main aayegi ki BJP kitna jhooth bol rahi hai. Our state committee will reach West Bengal after Holi. Our party's face is "Didi" but we have to play its eyes, ears and limbs." To reach out to these "Hindi Bhashi" (Hindi speaking) residents of Bengal, TMC is depending on the country's Hindi-belt.
As per TMC's assessment, at least 52 out of 294 assembly seats, from Asansol till Bardhaman and in between, have dominance of people from UP's eastern belt right from Prayagraj to Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Mau, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Kushinagar, Ambedkarnagar, Ballia, Basti till Sonbhadra. West Bengal has been a hub of small-scale industries and that has made people from Purvanchal migrate to that place.
"When we make our brothers and sisters from Purvanchal realize this they would understand the difference between Didi and Modi," said Rai who himself is from Sherpur village in Ghazipur. This apart, some of the prominent Bengali faces, who enjoy a mass support, from UP may also have a role to play in Bengal elections.
"We cannot reveal their names. But we have about a crore of Bengals in UP. Varanasi has a huge population. They have their roots in Bengal and when these people will reach out to their relatives back home and tell them how BJP government in UP has not done anything for them it will snowball into a different issue," said Rai.
UP apart, Punjab has lot of its people living in Bengal. Punjab state committee will search for their people in Bengal like UP people will do for `purabiyas'. Bihar, Jharkhand and Harayan are the other states who will have their office-bearers as foot soldiers of TMC in Bengal.
The UP state unit of TMC has organization set-up ready in at least 55 districts of UP. It's because of the assembly elections in Bengal and party's decision to use the UP workforce for campaigning in the sate, TMC's plan to contest UP panchayat elections may be hit.
"We might support candidates if any of our party workers wish to contest. As of now, our focus is on bengal elections," said Rai.
The UP unit of BJP also has its senior leaders and organizational experts camping in Bengal since the start of March. This is in addition to the rallies held by the UP CM Yogi Adityanath. Yogi besides being a Hindutva icon is also the Mahant of the Gorakhnath temple and that makes him a popular figure in Purvanchal.
Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya, union minister Sanjiv Baliyan, state BJP general secretary (Organization) Sunil Bansal along with senior office-bearers in the organization from Gorakhpur and other east UP districts are present in Bengal.
"We have been holding rallies to reach out to voters. At the same time, our focus is on election management which, simply, means from drawing crowd in rallies to ensuring a fair voting," said UP BJP vice-president, JPS Rathore, who is camping in Bengal.