BJP’s UP list betrays an attack of nerves, drops Dalit minister and SC Panel head while succumbing to threats

Following ground reports that Dalits are deserting the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, a nervous BJP leadership have made six changes in the list of 29 candidates for UP that was released on Thursday evening. BJP has dropped four sitting MPs in reserved constituencies including union minister Krishna Raj. Even the Chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes Ram Shankar Katheria has been denied ticket.

The list was announced by JP Nadda, who is also in-charge of UP’s election campaign.

Majority of the union ministers, barring Krishna Raj, have however been retained by the party. They include Narendra Modi (Varanasi), Rajnath Singh from Lucknow, Smriti Irani from Amethi, V K Singh from Ghaziabad, Dr Mahesh Sharma from Gautam Buddha Nagar (Noida), Satpal Singh from Baghpat and Santosh Gangwar from Bareilly.

“There is caste consolidation taking place against the BJP in Uttar Pradesh after Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav forged an alliance. The emergence of Congress too has given dalits an option because the marginalised castes have traditionally supported Congress at the national level.  This has made BJP jittery. In last election Dalits had voted en bloc for BJP but this time it will not happen and therefore the party has decided to change MPs in reserved constituencies,” said Manish Mishra, a professor in Lucknow University.

Constituencies where the sitting MPs have been denied ticket are Sambhal, Shahjahanpur, Hardoi, Mishrik, Agra and Fatehpur Sikri. Of these six seats four are reserved constituencies.  Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers ’ Welfare Krishna Raj has been denied ticket from Shahajahanpur. Instead BJP has given ticket to a new face Arun Sagar.

Incidentally, Krishna Raj was entrusted with the job of implementing PM Kisan Samman Scheme under which Rs 6000 is to be paid to marginal farmers. The first instalment of Rs 2000, the Government claimed, was paid to over four Crore farmers on February 24.

Another surprise choice is from Agra where the sitting MP and Chairman SC Commission Ram Shankar Katheria has been denied ticket. In his place Animal Husbandry Minister in Yogi Government SPS Baghel has been fielded. Baghel, who twice unsuccessfully contested for the Lok Sabha, joined BJP before 2017 and was made minister in the state.

Among other changes sitting MP from Sambhal has been replaced by Parmeshwar Lal Saini.  In Hardoi (SC) sitting MP Anshul Verma has been replaced by Jai Prakash Rawat. In Misrikh (SC) seat Anju Bala has been denied ticket and BJP has given ticket to Ashok Rawat.

In Fatehpur Sikri seat  sitting MP Chaudhary Babulal  has been replaced by  Rajkumar Singh. Sanghmitra Maurya, daughter of BJP stalwart Swami Prasad Maurya has been given ticket from Badaun, the seat which Samajwadi Party won in 2014 and from where Akhilesh Yadav’s cousin Dharmendra Yadav has been fielded this time by SP.

The party however gave ticket to Sakshi Maharaj, who had threatened of dire consequences if he was denied ticket from Unnao. In his two page letter, that was written to BJP state president Mahendra Nath Pandey on March 7 and leaked to the media on March 12, Sakshi Maharaj had threatened that if he was denied ticket from Unnao, the party would have to face dire consequences, “the result of which will not be very pleasant for the party”.

In his letter Sakshi Maharaj had said that he was the only OBC face of the party in Unnao while other leaders belonged to Thakur, Brahmin, Vaishya, Paasi or dhobi castes. “The caste equation is in my favour,” he had said in his letter.

Cine star Hema Malani has once again been fielded from Mathura.