New Delhi, Apr 12 Is sidelining of BJP veterans linked to caste idiom?
It’s yet again ‘Mission 272 Plus’ but all may not look like the ‘wave’ of 2014 and there has been apprehension that things may derail.
In Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the single biggest challenge is caste management. In eastern UP – the seats adjacent to Varanasi from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking re-election – both the development plank and Hindutva and hardcore neo-nationalism have their limitations.
BJP insiders say in seats like Azamgarh, Domiryaganj, Gorakhpur, Kushi Nagar, Deoria, Bansgaon, Lalganj, Ghazipur and Chandauli, voters’ mood is generally guided by caste factors.
Things seemed to have gone complicated a bit in terms of 'caste management' especially after the sidelining of party veterans such as Kalraj Mishra, Lalji Tandon and M M Joshi.
Has a message gone down that Brahmins are being sidelined by the pro-Hindutva party?
In contrast, sources said there is a growing OBC domination as also the hegemony of the Thakur camp in some areas. Home Minister Rajnath Singh, seeking his re-election from Lucknow, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and even MoS External Affairs Gen (Retd) V K Singh reflect the dominance of 'Thakurvad'.
In fact, adding to this facet, Jagdambika Pal - otherwise a turncoat from Congress – has yet again been given the ticket from Domariyaganj.
In UP post-Mandal era 'caste management' by the BJP saw emergence of Kalyan Singh as a key player in the state. Mr Singh, now Rajasthan Governor, belongs to OBC block and so does Uma Bharati, who incidentally also has stayed away from electoral contest this time.
Narendra Modi, Varanasi’s sitting MP in the Lok Sabha, is also an OBC though largely he is seen as the Hindutva leader, a hardcore nationalist and a catalyst of development. Whether Mr Modi’s OBC tag helps him electorally is only a matter of debate.
Sushma Swaraj, who opted out from electoral contest on health ground, is a Brahmin.
Thus, when M M Joshi – directly or indirectly – sounded his displeasure the manner he was denied ticket from Kanpur, the refrain in a certain section was that he was fighting a Brahmin cause.
Arun Jaitley too is a Brahmin, but his time-tested friendship with PM Modi and ‘team-manship’ with Modi-Amit Shah duo makes him ‘indispensable’ to the camp.
Another top Brahmin leader Nitin Gadkari seemed to have survived all that machination is largely due to his proximity to the RSS leadership.
However, it is altogether a different matter that the Union Surface Transport and Road Minister has always made light of his RSS connections.
In Bihar too, the Brahmin leaders like Ashwini Choubey are restive at times as the party ‘compromised’ a lot in accommodating allies like LJP of Dalit leader Ram Vilas Paswan and Nitish Kumar-led JD(U).
Besides the caste games, comes the ground zero polity.
“Team Modi’s worst fear is that the theory that Congress is in tatters and gave up fight might not work in UP, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. If Congress improves its tally, we should not be surprised if they do well in these states,” said a party source.
The caste puzzle is actually a pain. A recent survey by a media house revealed that every parliamentary constituency in UP has more than 40 per cent Muslim-Yadav-Dalit population and in at least 47 constituencies, the Muslim-Yadav-Dalit sections of electorate are higher than 50 per cent.
In Prime Minister’s constituency of Varanasi too, the caste matters.
Sources said Varanasi Lok Sabha segment makes an interesting composition of over 3.8 Vaishys (trading community), 2.6 lakh Brahmins and 1.7 lakh Yadavs. The BJP is confident of winning Kurmi support once again, thanks to Apna Dal alliance. Various local leaders have been deployed to win 1.30 lakh Bhumihars.
In Maharajganj – not far from Nepal border – there is story about Muslims having made rags to riches stories and BJP would be keen to retain it yet again and fielded sitting MP Pankaj Chaudhary as its candidate.
In fact, BJP is largely banking on sitting MPs in the region – namely - Kamalesh Paswan from Bansgaon, Harish Dwivedi from Basti, Manoj Sinha from Ghazipur, and Daddan Mishra from Shrawasti constituency.
Madhya Pradesh has maximum six ST reserved seats for LS: Bihar, UP have none
New Delhi, Apr 12 (UNI) The state of Madhya Pradesh in the heart of India has highest number of six tribal reserved seats for Lok Sabha while country's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh has no Scheduled Tribe seat, official data shows.
Out of 29 seats from the state in the Lower House of Parliament, Madhya Pradesh has six ST seats and four reserved seats for Scheduled Castes.
Out of 80 lawmakers sent to Lok Sabha from Uttar Pradesh, there are 17 SC reserved seats while 63 seats fall under general category.
Out of total 543 Lok Sabha members, the ST members make 47 while there are 84 reserved Scheduled Caste seats, official data from the Election Commission said.
Among the 47 ST members in Lok Sabha, one each comes from northeastern states of Manipur and Mizoram.
Like Sikkim; Nagaland's lone Lok Sabha seat falls into general category.
Two seats are reserved for ST nominees in Meghalaya while BJP-ruled Manipur has one open - that is general category state.
Like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar too has no tribal seat reserved while Chattisgarh has four such ST reserved parliamentary segments.
In terms of numbers, there are five ST reserved seats each from Jharkhand and also Naveen Patnaik-ruled Odisha, the data shows.
Jharkhand has eight general and one SC reserved constituency.
Odisha has 13 general category seats, three SC.
The two western states of Maharashtra and Gujarat too have four ST members each.
West Bengal has two tribal seats reserved while the SC reserved seats from the state are 10.
Tamil Nadu in south too does not have ST reserved seat. It has seven Lok Sabha seats reserved for Scheduled Castes while Rajasthan, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh have four each SC reserved seats.
Andhra Pradesh has one ST seat while Rajasthan has three ST seats but Punjab has no ST seat.
Karnataka and Maharashtra have five seats reserved for SC communities, the data shows.
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