Another Gandhi wages battle 100km off Rae Bareli, a lonely one

SULTANPUR: In Sultanpur, a hundred kilometres to the east of Congress bastion Rae Bareli, another Gandhi has entered the poll fray again, eyeing a record ninth term in Lok Sabha. BJP MP and former Union minister Maneka Gandhi, 67, often referred to as ‘chhoti bahu’, began her political journey four decades ago by contesting against her brother-in-law and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in Amethi in 1984. Maneka, who replaced her son Varun in 2019 and managed to win Sultanpur seat by around 14,500 votes, is up against a formidable opposition this time.

Given the recent history where her son was denied a ticket this time following his outbursts against his own party off and on, Maneka has many battles to wage this time. And it’s a rather lonely battle for her.

The party brass, including PM Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah, hasn’t campaigned in the constituency yet. UP CM Yogi Adityanath addressed a rally on Wednesday. UP minister and Nishad Party chief Sanjay Nishad though has campaigned for Maneka to consolidate the Nishad community which has a sizable presence in the constituency.

Another Gandhi wages battle 100km off Rae Bareli, a lonely one

Other prominent electoral groups include Kurmis, Yadavs, Muslims and Dalits. The constituency also has a significant number of Brahmins and Thakurs.

Congress-backed Samajwadi Party candidate Rambhual Nishad is said to have a good support base. Nishad, a two-term MLA from Gorakhpur rural seat, contested the last Lok Sabha polls from Gorakhpur as an SP candidate but lost to BJP’s Ravi Kishan by more than 3 lakh votes.

Nishad, though considered as an outsider, is often seen mobilising ground-level support for himself, especially among the Nishad community.

“The election is being contested by the PDA (pichhda or backward, Dalit, alpsankhyak or minority). This is a fight for the rights of farmers, youth and women,” said Sohail Ahmad Siddiqui, vice-president of Sultanpur SP Lohia Vahini, an organisation associated with SP in the district. The party has never won the Sultanpur Lok Sabha seat.

“The poll battle is evenly poised here. The concerns of backward and minority communities have not been addressed for years,” said Mohammad Shehzad, who runs a brick kiln in Aamkol village. Locals cite the consolidation of OBCs and Muslims behind Nishad as a key electoral factor.

BSP, too, has been flexing its muscles in the constituency by fielding Udraj Verma, a zila panchayat member from Sultanpur, making the contest triangular.

“Verma may prove to be a dark horse in case of a triangular contest as the constituency has a sizeable number of Kurmis and Dalits,” said Waqar Ahmad, a BSP functionary in the district.

The constituency is riddled with hyperlocal issues around development of the city and its connectivity with other key centres including Lucknow, Prayagraj and Ayodhya.

Situated on the banks of the Gomti, Sultanpur has its bit of local tourist points, like Dhopap temple associated with Ram and Lohramau Devi temple dedicated to Durga — both have been yearning for a facelift.

Traffic snarls and law-and-order are the other big issues which need attention. “There is still so much that needs to be done here,” said Alok Singh who runs a restaurant in Sultanpur Sadar locality. Issues like cow slaughter and ‘love jihad’ have also incited com munal tension in the region. Recently too, clashes erupted following rumour of cow slaughter in Koiripur town, leaving a couple of people injured.

Rural areas in the constituency often face acute water shortage, especially during summers. “The govt has been speaking of the Har Ghar Jal scheme but its implementation is far from reality,” said R K Kori, a resident of Bhadhara village, which comes under Isauli assembly segment which was won by Samajwadi Party’s Mohammad Tahir Khan in 2022.

In 2009, Congress’s Sanjay Sinh, a close associate of Sanjay Gandhi, won the seat. He defeated BSP’s Mohammad Tahir by around 1 lakh votes. BJP’s Surya Bhan Singh could manage only 6.24% votes. But in 2014, Varun won, defeating BSP’s Pawan Pandey and SP’s Shakeel Ahmed. Sinh’s second wife Ameeta who contested as a Congress candidate could muster only 4.35% votes.

The constituency, however, saw anti-incumbency against Varun, forcing BJP to field Maneka from the seat in 2019.