Jan 22, 2024 when the grand Ram Temple was inaugurated. nobody presumed that the BJP could be defeated at Faizabad Lok Sabha constitutuency - that houses Ayodhya segment.
But politics is more often a strange game. Narendra Modi's party was humbled in Faizabad. Hence, now in the ensuing by-polls, for both the BJP and Samajwadi Party, winning Milkipur is a matter of prestige.
While by-elections to the 10 vacant Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh are yet to be announced, the contest for Milkipur constituency has begun in earnest.
Analysts say Brahmin vs Dalit narrative builds as the son of Samajwadi Party’s Faizabad MP and Lok Sabhe 'poll hero' Awadhesh Prasad, the likely party candidate from Milkipur, is accused of kidnapping and assault.
Neither of the two parties has announced its Milkipur candidate yet, but Faizabad MP Prasad is confident that his son Ajit Prasad would get the SP ticket.
In recent days, Ajit has found himself facing an FIR alleging assault and kidnapping from Ravi Kumar Tiwari.
The BJP has been calling it an example of Ajit’s “goondaism”, with the fact that Tiwari is a Brahmin adding a caste angle to the case.
BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya got into the act, posting on X: “The son of the Faizabad MP, whom Akhilesh has been holding close to his heart, had kidnapped Ravi Tiwari and beaten him up.”
The BJP leader also alleged that incidents of rape and hooliganism have “increased since the SP’s Lok Sabha victory”.
For it part as understood, the SP calls the whole episode “political vendetta” by the BJP.
“The BJP is doing this out of frustration and fear of losing the seat. The repeated visits of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and ministers to the constituency show that they are jittery. This (filing of the FIR against Ajit) is a smaller version of the misuse of the CBI and ED,” SP spokesperson and former Ayodhya MLA Pawan Pandey said.
Local SP leaders say Ajit was to make his political debut in the 2017 Assembly polls from Jagdishpur in Amethi, but could not as the seat went to the Congress in the seat-sharing between the two parties.
The Dalit vs Brahmin line in the FIR related to the alleged incident that occurred in Faizabad City came after a dispute between Ajit and Prasad over commission in a land purchase case.
The Milkipur segment has a significant SC population, but also a substantial number of Brahmins.
At around a lakh in the seat, Brahmins, in fact, match the dominant SC groups of Pasis and Koris in numbers.
A significant chunk of the Brahmin community is believed to have supported Prasad, who belongs to the Pasi community, in the recent Lok Sabha as well as the 2022 Assembly polls.
The BJP is running on a united Hindu plank, with Adityanath repeatedly emphasising, “Batenge to katenge (divided we fall)”.
ends
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