Anujesh Pratap Singh
credit: X/@anujeshprtap110
Lucknow: Days ahead of the Karhal assembly bypoll, BJP candidate Anujesh Pratap Singh has asserted that top Yadav leaders of the Samajwadi Party are not taking any chances and going door to door even in its pocket borough as people are supporting him.
"With me as the BJP candidate, SP leaders are so anxious that they are courting even those party cadres whom they used to take for granted earlier. So, in a way, because of me, all SP cadres are now getting respect from their leaders," he told PTI in an interview.
Anujesh Singh is a relative of Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav. The SP has fielded Akhilesh Yadav's nephew Tej Pratap Yadav against him.
Singh, who switched over to the BJP from the SP in 2017, is married to Sandhya Yadav, the sister of Dharmendra Yadav, SP MP from Azamgarh and Akhilesh Yadav's cousin.
"The campaigning is going very well and this time, lotus (the BJP's election symbol) will definitely bloom in Karhal," he asserted.
"The reason why I feel so is that people from across the society are supporting me. A significant number of Yadav voters are also backing me," Singh added.
The BJP candidate claimed that the INDIA bloc's presence cannot be felt in the electoral fight in Karhal, exuding confidence that his party and its ally RLD will win all the nine assembly seats in the state where voting will be held on November 20.
On the acronym PDA coined by the SP, he said, "Have they given any other Yadav tickets? It is a dynastic party. Their PDA means the development of (their) family." During the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, Akhilesh Yadav coined the acronym 'PDA' for 'Pichhde' (backwards), Dalits and 'Alpsankhyak' (minorities).
"We are getting support from all sections of society. We are getting support of the PDA. SP's PDA is of their family, our PDA is of the society," Singh said, exuding confidence that he will get the votes of the Yadav voters as well.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday gave a new definition for Samajwadi Party's coinage 'PDA', calling it a "Production house of Dangai (rioters) and Apradhi (Criminals)." He also said that the "CEO" of this production house is Akhilesh Yadav and its "trainer" Shivpal Yadav. All criminals were "business partners" in the party, Adityanath added.
On his war of words with senior SP leader Shivpal Yadav, the BJP candidate said that he "respects" him.
"Why did Shivpal Yadav leave his nephew (Akhilesh Yadav) and form his own party? He rejoined the SP as he wanted his son (Aditya Yadav) to become a Lok Sabha MP," Singh alleged.
Asked if there was any possibility of him going back to the SP, he responded, "Not at all, not even a remote possibility. I am with the BJP, and since the time I have joined the BJP, I have been participating or organising every programme of the party with full devotion." Singh added that although he was close to the Yadav family, "nobody can level any allegation on me".
In the bypoll to the Karhal seat, there are seven candidates in the fray.
The bye-election in this constituency was necessitated by the resignation of sitting MLA Akhilesh Yadav after being elected from Kannauj as MP.
Karhal is just four kilometres from Akhilesh Yadav's native village Saifai in Etawah district. The constituency forms part of his wife Dimple Yadav's Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat.
The Karhal seat has been a stronghold of the SP since 1993. In the 2002 assembly election, the seat went to the BJP's Sobaran Singh Yadav but he later joined the SP.
In Uttar Pradesh, nine assembly seats going to bypolls -- Katehari (Ambedkar Nagar), Karhal (Mainpuri), Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar), Ghaziabad, Majhawan (Mirzapur), Sisamau (Kanpur City), Khair (Aligarh), Phulpur (Prayagraj) and Kundarki (Moradabad).
Eight of these seats fell vacant after the sitting MLAs were elected as Lok Sabha MPs. The Sisamau bypoll is being held due to the disqualification of SP MLA Irfan Solanki, who was convicted in a criminal case.
In the 2022 assembly polls, Sisamau, Katehari, Karhal, Milkipur and Kundarki were held by the SP, while the BJP had won Phulpur, Ghaziabad, Majhawan and Khair.
The Meerapur seat was held by the RLD, which is now an ally of the BJP in the NDA.
The Congress is not contesting the bypolls and supporting its I.N.D.I.A. bloc partner SP, while the BSP is contesting solo on all nine seats.