Why BJP has made it a mission to eradicate Gandhis from their Uttar Pradesh bastions
The next Lok Sabha elections may still be nearly a year away, but the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has already got into poll mode in India's politically most crucial state - Uttar Pradesh. Significantly, the party's main target for now appears to be Rae Bareli and Amethi, the political constituencies of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and her son and Congress president Rahul Gandhi, respectively.
The exercise that began about six months back is intensifying as the 2019 elections are drawing closer. The manner in which the top BJP leadership has been concentrating on Rae Bareli and Amethi clearly reflects how high these two constituencies remain on their agenda. And that has led analysts to wonder if the focus was prompted on account of the growing realisation that the electoral ride in 2019 may not be as smooth and overwhelming as it was in 2014.
After all, BJP set a record of sorts by sweeping 71 of the 80 UP Lok Sabha seats while its ally Apna Dal won two, taking their overall tally to an all-time record of 73.
BJP insiders believe that there is no way that the party could get anywhere close to that record tally. The fear within BJP circles is that the strengthening bonds between Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) could offset BJP 2014 gains.
Under the given circumstances, the only way that the BJP could get some notional compensation is by weakening the Congress in the party's strongest bastion, Rae Bareli and Amethi, where it had remained invincible ever since Sonia and Rahul set their foot on that soil.
Since demolishing the two pillars of the Congress is no mean task, the BJP leadership is leaving no stone unturned to have it out with its biggest rival.
While Smriti Irani, who lost to Rahul in 2014, was the most frequent visitor to Amethi, Amit Shah has undertaken at least three trips to the constituency of late, which clearly conveys the high priority being given to winning Rahul's constituency. Sure enough this is bound to be a part of BJP's preparation to once again try out Irani as a contender against the Congress president.
Shah made it a point to emphasise that as a Union minister, Smriti Irani, gave Amethi projects worth Rs 540 crore. While some of these projects were commissioned by the previous UPA government, the BJP is systematically appropriating all the credit for Irani, who is out to impress upon the electorate of Amethi that she is truly concerned about transforming their lives.
Shah's last two visits to Amethi were clearly aimed at reinforcing that he would ensure the ouster of Gandhis from this region. "The Gandhis have only promoted their family without doing any development in either Amethi or Rae Bareli, but BJP will give you a new era of development for many years to come," he told a well-attended rally in Rae Bareli earlier this week.
He was accompanied by UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, who blasted the Congress in general and the Gandhi family in particular.
The chief minister happily took credit for the setting up of AIIMS in Rae Bareli, which was actually initiated by Sonia Gandhi during the Manmohan Singh government. "AIIMS is nearing completion and will be opened very soon to cater to the needs of the local people here," he announced amid applause.
Politically, BJP had already made a dent in Rae Bareli by wooing away local MLC Dinesh Pratap Singh, who was formally inducted into the party by none other than Amit Shah. Singh's younger brother Awadhesh Singh, who is the local zila panchayat head, also switched loyalties to the BJP, while their third brother Rakesh Pratap Singh, a Congress MLA from Harchandpur Assembly segment of Sonia's parliamentary constituency, is also understood to be in the process of crossing floors very soon.
Significantly, even as both Amethi and Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seats were retained by Rahul and his mother despite the Modi wave in 2014, the fact remains that the Congress party did have to suffer reverses. It wrested six of the 10 assembly segments in Amethi and Rae Bareli during the 2017 Assembly election. Rahul's winning margin in 2014 dropped substantially from about 400,000 votes in 2009 to just about 100,000 votes.
With Irani having polled more than 300,000 votes in that election, she was encouraged to devote a lot of time and energy in Amethi over the past four years. The BJP leadership is therefore moving heaven and earth to bridge the already narrowed down margin between Irani and Rahul in 2019.
And the reason was aptly spelt out by a senior BJP leader who said, "The significance of demolishing a Congress bastion like Amethi or Rae Bareli would mark the end of the Gandhi era and surely you can understand what that means."