'Apna Ladka' (Akhilesh) overshadows others in Karahal

For many on the overcrowded roads, a major portion of which has been encroached by the shopkeepers, here, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav, who is contesting from this assembly seat, is 'apna ladka' (one of our own boy) as his father and SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav had been a student of Jain College, one of the oldest educational institutions, and also a teacher there for several years before taking the plunge into politics, and that the rivals are no match for him.

That Akhilesh's native village, Saifai, was barely six kilometres from Karahal, had only helped the SP president in his projection as 'apna ladka' among the electorate here a majority of whom hailed from the 'Yadav' community. Saifai boasts of a super-speciality medical college and hospital, a stadium and wide metaled roads-all built during the successive SP governments, according to the locals.

''Yehan jo bhi vikas aap dekh rahen hain woh sab Netaji (Mulayam) aur Akhileshji ne karwaya hai'' (whatever development you see here has happened during Mulayam and Akhilesh's regimes), says Praveen Kumar Yadav, a resident of the town.

Read more: 'Sann, Sunn, Shunya': Akhilesh Yadav coins new attack on BJP amid Uttar Pradesh polls

Although the town was around 300 kilometres from the state capital of Lucknow, one could easily reach here through the Lucknow-Agra Expressway, which was built when Akhilesh was the chief minister of the state. It is said that the alignment of the Expressway was changed to make sure that it passed through Karahal.

As many here also see Akhilesh as the future CM of the state, there is a general feeling that the area will witness more development if the SP is able to form the next government. Akhilesh, when he had visited the area after filing his nomination papers, promised a University in the town besides bringing in industries to enable the local youths to get jobs.

Karahal has been an SP stronghold and the party had won the seat in the past three assembly polls in 2007, 2012 and 2017. BJP had won the seat in 2002. Of the 3.7 lakh electorate in the constituency, around 1.5 lakh hail from the 'Yadav' community who form the core vote bank of the SP. In the 2017 SP nominee Sobaran Singh Yadav had defeated his nearest BJP rival by a around 40 thousand votes.

Undaunted by the unfavourable caste equations, the supporters of the BJP, which sprang a surprise by choosing to nominate union minister S P Singh Baghel, who has been a member of Mulayam's security detail for several years, feel that their nominee could do what Shuvendu Adhikari did to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee at Nandigram and Smriti Irani did to former Congress president Rahul Gandhi at Amethi.

''Akhilesh is not invincible.....BJP has a lot of support here.....the people have seen the developmental works undertaken by Yogi Adityanath and prime minister Narendra Modi,'' says Pankaj Chaturvedi, a local resident.

Baghel also exuded confidence that he would 'defeat' Akhilesh. ''I was instrumental in ensuring defeat of Akhilesh's wife Dimple Yadav in Kannauj and also defeat of Akshoy Yadav in Firozabad in 2019 Lok Sabha polls,'' he said. His confidence appears to stem from the sizable number of his own caste members (18 thousand), 'Shakyas' (35 thousand) and 'Brahmins and 'Lodh' who numbered 18 thousand and 12 thousand respectively in the constituency. BJP considers them as its core voters.

What, however, may come as a respite for Akhilesh, is the resentment among the people over rising prices, stray cattle menace and unemployment.

It is Akhilesh's first plunge in the state's electoral battlefield and it will be interesting to see if the 'apna ladka' finds favour with the electorate when the constituency goes to the polls on Sunday.

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