Breach in SP camp reveals BJP plans to fortify flanks in Congress bastions
The ruling party got sitting Samajwadi Party MLAs from the region - SP’s chief whip Manoj Pandey, the lawmaker from Unchahar in Rae Bareli in particular - to vote against the SP line by backing BJP candidates.
The Bharatiya Janata Party used the Rajya Sabha poll on Tuesday to fortify its flanks in key constituencies of Uttar Pradesh like Amethi and Rae Bareli.
The ruling party got sitting Samajwadi Party MLAs from the region - SP’s chief whip Manoj Pandey, the lawmaker from Unchahar in Rae Bareli in particular - to vote against the SP line by backing BJP candidates. The move made it evident that Pandey was headed the BJP way.
At least three SP lawmakers from Amethi-Rae Bareli were among the rebels who backed the BJP. The impact of the development is likely to be felt outside the Rajya Sabha polls, too, as it fits in with a party plan to field strong candidates on 16 seats that BJP lost in U.P. in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Rae Bareli, the lone Lok Sabha seat in UP that the Congress won in 2019, is among them.
Even as the buzz about Manoj Pandey’s candidature from Rae Bareli grew, the three-term lawmaker kept silent. But U.P. minister Dinesh Pratap Singh, who had contested the 2019 polls from Rae Bareli, cutting into the victory margin of his former leader and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, put up a post that lent credibility to a possible BJP plan on the key U.P. seat.
“No matter who contests, even if it were to be Manoj Pandey, I will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that the BJP wins this seat,” Singh said in his post.
Senior BJP leaders point to how despite her win in 2019, Sonia Gandhi’s victory margin of 1.6 lakh votes was her lowest since 2004, when she first contested from Rae Bareli.
“Someone strong will contest from Rae Bareli, which was among the seats we had lost in 2019 and was among the high-focus seats. Now, let us figure out who will be Soniaji’s replacement in Rae Bareli,” BJP leaders said.
Sonia’s victory margin in Rae Bareli was 2.5 lakh votes in 2004 Lok Sbha polls, 4.17 lakh votes in 2006 by-polls, when all her opponents forfeited their deposit but came down a bit to 3.7 lakh in 2009 and was still impressive but a touch lower at 3.5 lakh in 2014, the year of Narendra Modi’s ascendancy as PM.
Since then, the BJP has been consistently chipping away at plans to weaken the Congress in its bastions of Amethi and Rae Bareli.
Aditi Singh and Rakesh Singh, lawmakers of Rae Bareli (Sadar) and Harchandpur, the two lone Rae Bareli assembly segments from where the Congress had won in 2017 U.P. polls, joined the BJP. They were made to contest against Congress on the same seat in the 2022 UP polls and both won.
Apart from Manoj Pandey, Rakesh Pratap Singh, the SP MLA from Gauriganj in Amethi also cross- voted in the BJP’s favour, saying that he heeded the voice of his conscience and voted in the name of “Lord Ram”.
Maharaji Prajapati, SP MLA from the Amethi assembly segment of Amethi, abstained, hurting the SP, which only recently firmed up a pre-poll pact with the Congress for 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Rae Bareli and Amethi are among the 17 Lok Sabha seats that SP has left for the Congress. Through the SP rebels in Rajya Sabha polls, the BJP is now looking at a chance to firm up its 2024 plans in the Congress bastions, party leaders said.
During Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Amethi-Rae Bareli, the local party leaders as well as few residents had demanded that Rahul contest from Amethi to set up a rematch of 2019 against Union minister Smriti Irani, the present MP and Priyanka Gandhi from Rae Bareli as Sonia Gandhi, citing age and ill health, has already opted for the Rajya Sabha.
Smriti Irani has been frequently travelling to Amethi with her Jan Samvad Vikas Yatra ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls to further cement her ties with the constituency from where Congress has only lost thrice.
“Irrespective of who contests against us, the Congress will win both Amethi and Rae Bareli comfortably,” said Congress spokesman CP Rai.