Dhananjay Singh’s wife Shrikala no longer BSP’s Jaunpur candidate, change ‘will boost BJP prospects’

06/05/2024

Lucknow: The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) changed its candidate for the Jaunpur Lok Sabha constituency Monday, hours before the nomination process was to end — a move that’s likely to benefit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the constituency.

The BSP switched Shrikala Dhananjay Singh, Jaunpur’s district panchayat chairperson and wife of gangster-turned-politician Dhananjay Singh, for Shyam Singh Yadav, the sitting MP from Jaunpur.

Shrikala’s candidature was being seen as harming the prospects of BJP candidate Kripashankar Singh, former minister of state for home in Maharashtra.

A visibly happy Yadav told mediapersons that he had got a call from BSP chief Mayawati at 1 am Monday.

“I got a call from Behenji at 1 am and she gave me her blessings and told me that she was again making me the party candidate from Jaunpur and that I should prepare my nomination papers. I was about to go out of station today but happened to get a phone call from her. My papers are ready. Our local coordinator has left from Lucknow and I hope that I will get the required papers from the party (form B) within one-two hours,” he said.

In December 2022, Yadav had showered praise on senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in an interview with ThePrint after participating in the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Yadav had also participated in the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Agra this February.

When asked if Shrikala’s ticket had been cancelled, Yadav said he had shared the “factual position” with the media.

“I am very happy. You know that some months ago, I had declared that I wouldn’t fight the election. But I had said that till the time a person or party doesn’t push me, I would not fight. But Behenji herself called, and you can understand that I am prepared again and I think that the public of Siraj-e-Hind (Jaunpur) will bless me again because an astrologer had told me that I will become the next MP,” he added.

“I told him (the astrologer) that I had not even got a ticket, and how could this happen? He said that he didn’t know anything about it but the stars said I would be the next MP. My trust in him has increased now,” Yadav said.

While Kripashankar, who had switched sides from the Congress to the BJP in 2021, was fielded by the latter from Jaunpur on 2 March, the move had caused disgruntlement among several local leaders who were seeking a ticket from the BJP, including Dhananjay.

Sources in the BJP told ThePrint that Dhananjay was in touch with senior leaders from both the JD(U) and BJP and had sought a ticket from Jaunpur but remained unsuccessful.

In March this year, Dhananjay was jailed days after he declared that he would fight the Lok Sabha polls from Jaunpur, following which his wife jumped into fray on a BSP ticket.

BSP sources blamed Dhananjay for the change in the party’s candidate and said it was his decision more than Mayawati’s to refrain from the contest.

“Dhananjay Singh has several criminal cases pending against him and he has been convicted by an MP/MLA court for his involvement in a 2020 abduction and extortion case. His conviction came three days after he declared that he was set to fight the Lok Sabha election from Jaunpur. He was shifted from Jaunpur jail to Bareilly jail and got bail from the Allahabad High Court on 27 April. He wants to ensure that the ruling dispensation (BJP) does not wield an iron hand on him and wants to be on their good side. The narrative about the BSP changing candidates is misleading,” a senior BSP leader told ThePrint.

BSP’s Varanasi zonal coordinator Ghanshyam Kharwar told the media early Monday that Dhananjay had called Sunday to say that his family won’t fight the election.

Dhananjay, however, denied his statement, saying that the BSP was misleading people.

“The BSP changed candidates in Amethi, Basti, Varanasi and Azamgarh within two-three days, so this must be their style of working. So, you can keep doing your work but don’t mislead people,” he said to reporters in Jaunpur.

He added that his wife was hurt with what had happened.

“It’s wrong. My wife is hurt. It’s not that I had a lot of hope from (the party), it’s not that this is happening for the first time. Earlier too, such instances have happened with me thrice. It is the first time for my wife, she is hurt,” he said.

Dhananjay added that the BSP knew him very well.

“The BSP knows me well, especially when Behenji was the (Uttar Pradesh) CM in 2002, I was put in jail for a year, 10-12 cases were slapped against me, my mother had expired, I still did not compromise. I think Kharwarji is new which is why he is using such language. It’s fine that he is defending his party, but there are other methods for the same and don’t defame others. You know, during 2007-2012 too, there were ideological differences and I was jailed and several cases were lodged against me before the 2012 (UP) election. A rumour was spread that I had apologised but I said no, I did not commit any mistake, neither would I apologise,” he said.

Dhananjay also made it clear that he would play a role in picking the next MP of Jaunpur.

Asked about his next step, he said he would hold meetings with his people in the coming days and won’t take a decision before that. “We will definitely play a role in making the next MP who will be someone we want,” he said.

Polling is set to take place in Jaunpur on 25 May.

‘BSP move to benefit BJP’

According to political experts, having Yadav in the fray in place of Shrikala will boost the chances of Kripashankar as Yadav would likely cut the votes of Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Babu Singh Kushwaha. The Yadavs are the key votebank of the SP.

Both Dhananjay and Kripashankar are Thakurs — a community that forms a sizeable chunk of the electorate in Jaunpur, which is estimated to stand at 18.6 lakh in all, according to sources in the SP’s district unit.

These sources also estimate that Yadavs make up the biggest chunk of voters in Jaunpur at 2.75 lakh, followed by Scheduled Caste (SC) voters at 2.3 lakh, Muslims at 2.2 lakh, Kshatriyas at 1.9 lakh, Brahmins at 1.4 lakh, Mauryas (including Kushwahas) at 1.5 lakh, and Patels at around 80,000.

Political experts said that irrespective of the reasons, the switching of candidates was set to benefit the BJP and harm the SP candidate who was hitherto being seen as the main challenger to Kripashankar.

Mirza Asmer Beg, professor of political science at Aligarh Muslim University, told ThePrint that the caste dynamics in Jaunpur show that the BSP fielding a Yadav would help the BJP by taking away some of the Yadav votes that the SP’s Kushwaha may have got.

“Since the constituency has the maximum Yadav voters, it is clear that the BSP’s Yadav candidate will cut into the traditional vote bank of the SP and harm the prospects of Kushwaha. The Yadav voters will now be in a dilemma whether to vote for Kushwaha or Yadav. Further, the Yadav candidate can also attract OBCs and likely take along the SC voters in the constituency. This will be an advantage for the BJP candidate, who will be able to consolidate the Thakur, Brahmin and other non-Yadav votes,” Beg said.

Shrikala termed the turn of events “dirty politics” and said she would not fight the Lok Sabha polls even as an Independent.

“This is dirty politics. I am very disappointed as I was working hard and because my supporters, too, were working for me enthusiastically. I am not in the right state of mind. I am already a district panchayat chairperson and have a good post. I don’t think I will fight independently. I am more upset because I have to pacify my supporters. I am not used to such kind of politics,” she said.

BSP changes Basti candidate too

The BSP Monday changed its candidate from the Basti Lok Sabha seat, too.

While it had earlier named Dayashankar Mishra, a Brahmin, from the seat, it has now decided to field Lavkush Patel.

The move is set to hurt the prospects of the SP’s Basti candidate, Ram Prasad Chaudhary and boost the BJP’s Harish Dwivedi, another Brahmin, as Mishra would have cut into Dwivedi’s votes.

Speaking to ThePrint, SP spokesperson Rajkumar Bhati alleged that it was well-known that the BSP helped the BJP.

“Whom to give a ticket totally depends on the party but this is an open fact that the BSP helps the BJP. It has supported the BJP several times and has been in a coalition government with the party. Since the Congress is in alliance with us, the BJP and the BSP’s main contender in Uttar Pradesh now is the SP, which is also emerging as a big force in the state. Further, when two parties have a similar kind of secular vote bank, including the Dalits, minorities and OBCs, it is likely that the BSP may feel threatened with SP’s growth and may see it as an existential crisis,” he said.

(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)