Spotlight Hathras: Yogi Adityanath, Akhilesh Yadav draw battlelines

LUCKNOW: When 55 assembly seats straddling nine districts of west UP go to polls on Monday, BJP will swiftly shift gears to the next phase and consolidate its position in Hathras, which was rocked by rape and death of a 19-year-old Dalit girl in September 2020. The district goes to poll on February 20.
BJP has lined up back-to-back rallies of CM Yogi Adityanath in all three assembly seats of the district — Hathras, Sadabad and Sikandra Rao — on Monday.Yogi is scheduled to first address a rally in Chhabi Mian locality of Sadabad, followed by another in Bagla college in Hathras and then in Nagar Palika playground of Sikandra Rao.
Confirming Yogi’s itinerary, Hathras district president Gaurav Arya told TOI the party has launched a massive campaign and Opposition can’t gain ground in Hathras. On Sunday, state BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh hit the ground running and held a door-to-door campaign in Sisni Bazar in favour of party candidate from Hathras reserved seat, Anjula Mahor. Singh’s campaign coincided with the visit of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
The Dalit girl’s death in Hathras two years ago triggered national outrage and turned into a political issue. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who has given the slogan ‘Ladki Hoon Lad Sakti Hoon’, along with her brother, Rahul Gandhi, had gone to meet the victim’s family, days after the girl died in a Delhi hospital.
Experts said, BJP has tried to assuage angst amongst voters by replacing its sitting MLA Hari Shankar Mahor with Anjula Mahor, who happens to be a former mayor in neighbouring Agra district. Anjula, a Kori Dalit, too, faced protests from local BJP cadre, who called her an “outsider”. She, however, reportedly managed to mollify party workers with the support of Hari Shankar.
Hathras’ Sadabad seat too witnessed political turmoil with its sitting BSP MLA, Ramveer Upadhyay, defecting to BJP. He will be up against BSP’s Avin Sharma and SP-backed RLD candidate, Pradeep Chaudhary. Sources said, RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary is also scheduled to reach Hathras on February 15 and 17 to campaign for Chaudhary. In Sikandra Rao, BJP has stuck to its sitting MLA Birendra Singh Rana. He will be up against SP’s Lalita Prasad.