Up's last lap

Up's last lap

BJP brings its big guns to boom for assembly poll, and they may bear fruit.
The race for crowning political glory in Uttar Pradesh has entered its last lap with polling left in only 40 of the 403 assembly seats that are up for grabs. The high decibel campaign has come to an end in a do-or-die battle for BJP, BSP and the SP-Congress combine in the state. The temple town of Varanasi, also Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parliamentary constituency, had become the focal point for all political parties. Modi spent three consecutive days in Varanasi campaigning for BJP candidates. Apart from Modi BJP has brought out all its big guns, appearing to line up all its Hindi-speaking ministers for the UP election campaign.
Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav addressed seven rallies on the last day of his campaign for Samajwadi Party. BSP chief Mayawati ended her 32-day-campaign after addressing over 50 public meetings across the state and is now busy gathering feedback and reviewing party preparations for the last phase of polling on Wednesday.
But the ruling SP's problems were highlighted when Governor Ram Naik wrote a letter to Akhilesh on the presence of tainted minister Gayatri Prajapati.
The minister has been absconding ever since the police filed an FIR in connection with separate cases of gang rape and attempt to rape another woman, on directives from the Supreme Court last month.This is supremely embarrassing for the state government and has given another handle to opposition parties to target it over lawlessness and crime. An absconding Prajapati has harmed Akhilesh's assiduous attempts to cultivate an image of a clean politician. It prompted Modi to take a dig at Akhilesh's much-hyped Dial 100 service and claims of UP police arriving within 15 minutes to arrest the guilty.
If one looks at the precedent of civic polls in Maharashtra, demonetisation has not had adverse consequences for BJP. That, together with the fact that BJP won 42% of the vote in UP's last election in 2014, should stand BJP in good stead in this election not to mention the booming firepower that BJP has brought to bear on the campaign and the prevailing state of lawlessness under SP. But UP is a sprawling and diverse state with many interests, and it's also possible that a coherent picture may not quite emerge out of this assembly poll.