PM on his side, BJP nominee claims edge in poll

JHANSI: BJP’s Anurag Sharma, the MP from Jhansi, is facing a challenge from INDIA bloc candidate Pradeep Jain Aditya.

With popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his side, and the micromanagement of elections being carried out by the party, Sharma, however, insists he has an edge over his rival.

“The INDI alliance is not working in UP. This is because, of the two parties (SP & Congress), one is entirely dependent on getting votes from its very limited constituency which is caste based while the other partner has no feet on the ground. In the 2022 elections, many of their candidates lost deposits. This time just one Gandhi is contesting and he also changed his constituency, which shows that they have no faith in their own work,” said the Baidyanath scion who won the Jhansi-Lalitpur constituency seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. While Sharma has roped in his entire family to campaign, from his wife to his sister and daughters, the well-oiled party machinery is ensuring that every single village in the constituency is covered through music videos, pamphlets and social media outreach.

Sharma is also deriving his confidence from the development of Bundelkhand, which he says has happened at breakneck speed under the Narendra Modi government.

For the family, each day seems never ending, where often his wife takes over the social responsibilities when Sharma is busy elsewhere.

Sharma says that this time, people are much more aware and have observed the development that has taken place. In the past five years, he said, BJP had effectively reached out to the poorest of the poor. The free ration scheme would prove to be a game changer as it had changed the lives of people, giving them more independence to go out and work.

“The expectations of people have risen after they have seen things change on ground. There are a lot of aspirations in Bundelkhand which were not economically so good. A project like the Bundelkhand Industrial Development Authority will not just bring industry to the ground but also services. It was launched just 6-8 months back and we are in the process of acquiring 36,000 acres for it,” he said, adding that investors were feeling far safer in UP and many foreign companies were keen to invest here.

The Har Ghar Nal scheme, a major project launched in Bundelkhand to provide tap water to every house, is a little behind schedule, says Sharma. The scheme was expected to be a major boost for the BJP govt this election, had people actually started receiving water. However, despite claims of the state govt that Bundelkhand has been covered, Sharma says that only 40% households are getting water while another 30% would start getting water in the next three months. The reason for the delay, he said, were companies going bankrupt, Bundelkhand’s terrain and that two intake wells were located in MP. “Around 90% of the pipes have been laid so we should be able to complete this very soon,” he said.

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