Lucknow: For the Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh, his three-day visit to Lucknow beginning Wednesday (26 March) is more in the nature of damage control than celebration at being named the party candidate for the coming Lok Sabha election. The party is facing serious trouble over ticket distribution in over two dozen seats and may have to contend with rebel candidates in many places, putting a question mark over its expectation of winning close to 50 seats.
Singh arrived in Lucknow on Wednesday to a tumultuous welcome by state party leaders and workers and he was taken in a procession from the airport to the state party office which was decked up for the occasion. Workers, candidates, ticket-seekers and office bearers from all over the state had gathered to greet Singh or at least show their presence to him and state party leaders.
BJP president Rajnath Singh. PTI
Singh addressed the media in the afternoon where the presence of more party workers than mediapersons caused a lot of commotion. Sharing the stage with him were the Lucknow mayor Dinesh Sharma, incumbent MP Lalji Tandon, Atal Bihari Vajpayee's personal assistant Shiv Kumar, state party president Laxmikant Vajpayee and the party spokesman Sudhanshu Trivedi. Incidentally, all of them wore glum expressions.
There was a loud guffaw among the mediapersons when Singh started his address by saying that Tandon himself had "requested" Singh to contest from Lucknow, but both Singh and Tandon did not react. After promising to change the face of Lucknow as per Atal Bihari Vajpayee's dream, Singh acknowledged, in response to a question, that there was a problem in more than two dozen seats over ticket distribution. "Such resentment and protests are common when a party is popular because everyone wants to contest. But this does not mean much once the ticket is finalized and the entire party will now fight to realize the dream of making Modi the prime minister," he said.
In reply to another question, he said the inclusion of outsiders in the candidate list was part of the party strategy. "In war and election, we need to have a strategy to win, and this is part of our strategy," he said. The party will make good use of all the disgruntled workers at different levels, he promised.
Singh made a specific mention of the Supreme Court observation regarding the Uttar Pradesh government's laxity in tackling Muzaffarnagar riots, and said that the Akhilesh Yadav government must resign in the wake of the apex court comments.
However, the more difficult part of Singh's visit started after the media conference as he was to attend a party get-together in Tandon's house. His objectives are to seek greater involvement of Tandon and his supporters in the election campaign, using Tandon's Old Lucknow connect to reach out to Muslims, especially Shia community, and convincing several senior party leaders the compulsions in denying tickets to them or their relatives. Over the next three days, Singh will meet several local citizens including doctors, lawyers, businessmen, employees' leaders, Muslim leaders, besides some friends in other parties.
Even Tandon was initially reported to be reluctant to vacate the seat for Singh but he later relented when told in plain terms that he had no choice.
Among the places where resentment still prevails over candidate finalisation are Allahabad, Deoria, Domariyaganj, Gonda, Mathura, Mirzapur and Ghaziabad. Even Hema Malini, the candidate from Mathura, had to face workers' wrath on Monday when she arrived hours late for a visit to the Vrindavan temple, and it is learnt that district leaders conveyed to her in clear terms that she should shed her "actor attitude" if she wanted to get locals' cooperation.
According to a former president of the city unit of the BJP, Singh will also try to win over the support of a wide section of backward castes and Muslims, as both these are considered crucial to ensure a big win for the party. "It is not only in Lucknow but in at least a dozen seats that this combination can affect the result," he said, adding that during his chief ministership, Singh had come up with the proposal for reservation for most backward castes (MBCs).
He admitted that the party was aware the ticket bickering had diluted the popular support for the party to some extent, but expressed the hope that Singh will win over the disgruntled leaders and workers. "The next phase of Modi's rallies will change the situation completely into BJP's favour," he said.
However, a district president from eastern Uttar Pradesh who had come to the state BJP office said that despite the "Modi wave" the party could suffer some damage in Mirzapur where former minister Om Prakash Singh's son Anurag had quit the BJP over denial of ticket to him. Similar damage was likely in Domariyaganj where local workers were not enthused to campaign in Jagdambika Pal's favour. In Allahabad too, workers were yet to get over the "shock" of finding ex-mayor and Samajwadi Party leader Shyama Charan Gupta being fielded as BJP candidate a day after joining the party.
Apparently Rajnath Singh will have a busy schedule on the next two days that include inauguration of his election office set up at premises provided by Sudhir Halwasiya, a prominent local businessman, in Hazratganj. Singh's wife Savitri Singh and son Pankaj have been camping in the city for the past one week.
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