CHENNAI BusinessLine 18 POLLSCAPE WEDNESDAY • APRIL 24 • 2019 Grand Alliance in UP weighs on BJP Mubarakpur’s silk industry pines for Caste arithmetic the surface, aligned in support of ity of heart and a will to serve lost sheen, hopes for revival of fortunes the SP. But ever since I have star­ people,” Pratapgarhi said after a and consolidation ted campaigning, I have realised massive roadshow in the SHISHIR SINHA that the local people, whether Moradabad city on the last day of Azamgarh, April 23 of minority votes Think of Banaras, one thing Hindus or Muslims, will support the campaign. that immediately comes to pose challenge to me. He has called me names, In the neighbouring Lok mind is the Banarasi sari . tried to humiliate me and the Sabha seat of Sambhal, SP vet­ PM’s popularity However, not many will people are ready to give him a be­ eran Shafiqur Rehman Barq lost know that the root of a fitting answer,” Jaya Prada told to Satyapal Saini of the BJP in 2014 Banarasi sarilies in Mubarak­ POORNIMA JOSHI BusinessLine. by a margin of 4,932 votes. The pur, 13 km from district Rampur, April 23 In Moradabad, the State Minis­ BSP secured 2,52,640 votes. This headquarter of Azamgarh. The fast­emerging story of Uttar ter with Independent Charge of time, because of the SP­BSP alli­ Once you reach Mubarak­ Pradesh in the ongoing Lok Voters wait in long queues to cast their vote at a polling station in Panchayati Raj, Chaudhary Bhu­ ance, Barq’s chances are said to pur, you will notice a sign­ Sabha elections is the nail­biting Moradabad on Tuesday PTI pendra Singh, disclosed how the very high. board saying ‘ Resham Nagri contest between the Mahagath- BJP’s strategy is focused on wean­ “Barq saheb is a winner. The al­ Mubarakpur main aapka bandhan and the BJP. The alli­ Sambhal, the BJP’s victory mar­ Muslims and the Hindu vote is ing the Jatavs away from the alli­ liance will work in his favour,” swagat hai’ (welcome to the ance weighed heavily on the rul­ gin in 2014 was relatively nar­ split among Jatavs and Yadavs ance because the Muslims vote said Chandravijay Singh, former Weavers nowadays get a weekly wage of just ₹1,200­1,300 silk town of Mubarakpur). ing party in the 10 seats that rower at 23425, 87504 and 4932 and many staunch BJP support­ “would any way be divided”. MP from Moradabad. You will be disappointed if following a riot. Traders to get the treatment,” a polled during the third phase on votes respectively. ers, including Lodhs, Vaishyas, “This election is about In the Yadav strongholds you expect this placeto be as stopped coming here, and young man, who did not Tuesday. Simultaneously, the votes Brahmins, Thakurs, Sainis, Pals whether Narendra Modi will be Mainpuri, Firozabad and “happening” as Varanasi. The the place lost its marketing want to be identifiedsaid. From the western parts into polled by the Bahujan Samaj and Kurmis. the Prime Minister or not. Caste Badaon, the alliance is depend­ small semi­urban place with identity. Many of the weavers Even the youth in the region known as Braj, the Party (BSP) candidates in Although the Muslim vote is alliances will work out eventu­ ing on Mulayam Singh Yadav and a population of over one have just one or two looms. Azamgarh’s 136­year­ old arithmetic and chemistry was Moradabad and Sambhal and by not united behind Azam Khan, ally in the BJP’s favour,” his nephew Dharmendra Yadav lakh appears sleepy. It is a They spend almost a week to Shibli National College, with tilted towards the Opposition al­ the Nawab of Rampur Kazim Ali, the alliance is expected to attract Bhuepndra Singh told to trounce the BJP. Since the seats mix of Hindus and Muslims weave a sari and get weekly a capacity of over 10,000 stu­ liance in Moradabad, Rampur, who stood on a Congress ticket substantial Jatav and Yadav BusinessLine. were won by the Yadav chieftains and most of them are en­ wage of just ₹1,200­1,300. dents, appeared to be disap­ Sambhal, Firozabad, Mainpuri, in 2014, were much higher than voters, making it an uphill task The argument on “splitting of even in the face of the “Modi gaged in weaving saris . Loc­ Some entrepreneurs supply pointed not just on health in­ Etah, Badaon, Aonla, Bareilly and the difference between the win­ for the BJP. However, BJP candid­ Muslim vote” gained ground in wave” in 2014, the calculation als said this was not the situ­ raw materials to these frastructure but also on Pilibhit. ner BJP and the runners­up ate Jaya Prada, who has represen­ Moradabad because of the Con­ this time is that the seats would ation nearly 19 years ago. weavers and buy saris at a employment and business Conversation with BJP work­ Samajwadi Party (BSP) in the ted Rampur twice as an SP MP, is gress’ young candidate, Imran be retained by a bigger margin. During the 1980s and till cheap rate. opportunities. ers in Moradabad revealed that three seats. confident that the local popula­ Pratapgarhi, who attracted huge That leaves out the BJP’s fort­ late 1990 s, traders used to With the arrival of power “There are no government the enthusiasm of 2014 general tion has had enough of Azam crowds because of his flourish ress in Bareilly from where the source Banarasi saris from loom, hand woven sarishave jobs here and it is zero in­ elections has waned andthat it is ‘Strongest contest’ Khan’s strongman tactics and with Urdu poetry recitation and present incumbent Santosh here, which were sub­ become too costly and only dustry area,” a student said. not easy to breach the caste fort­ The main contest is thus will align with her in the energetic campaign. Gangwar is seeking a seventh sequently sold in Varanasi few are ready to pay that Another student said: ress built by the alliance this between BJP’s Jaya Prada and SP elections. “There are no Hindus or term, and Pilibhit where Maneka and in other big cities. Daily much. The previous Sama­ “Nearly seven out of 10 time around. strongman Azam Khan. Among “When I got the BJP ticket, I was Muslims. People love me here. I Gandhi has won six times and is business volume was in the jwadi Party government did youngsters are migrating In the three adjoining seats of Rampur’s approximately 16 lakh a little apprehensive because the will show that India is not about now being defended by her son range of ₹10­11 crore. set up a marketing centre from here.” Some weren’t Rampur, Moradabad and voters, nearly 52 per cent are demographics of this seat are, on religion or caste. It is about pur­ Varun Gandhi. Weavers were happy as they here, but it is empty now. happy with an yearly prom­ were getting the price they There are over 200 co­operat­ ise of ₹ 72,000 or even quoted. ives, but weavers alleged ₹6,000 under PM Kisan There were a lot of indirect only few get government scheme. Contempt notice to Rahul jobs. “Even a shop assistant assistance. “This will encourage un­ used to earn up to ₹200 a Ali was in great difficulty employment,” one of them for remarks on Rafale verdict day,” said M Takiuddin, a doc­ to pay ₹1,200 for treatment said. All of them agreed that tor by profession and be­ of diarrhoea and he is not the next government should longing to a family of alone. With the introduction give preference to employ­ PRESS TRUST OF INDIA Justices Deepak Gupta and weavers. Ali Akbar, who wove of Ayushman Bharat, a ment, health, education and New Delhi, April 23 Sanjiv Khanna. At the outset, saris for almost five decades, health scheme launched by population control. The Supreme Court on Tues­ the Bench asked senior ad­ smiled when asked about the Centre, a health insur­ Azamgarh is one of the day issued criminal con­ vocate Mukul Rohatgi, ap­ how much he used to earn. ance scheme operated by prominent constituencies of tempt notice to Congress pearing for Lekhi, to apprise His grandchild Tamim said , previous government was eastern Uttar Pradesh, where President Rahul Gandhi for it of the content of the affi­ “Labour will always be la­ discontinued. But the prob­ a large population com­ his “ chowkidar chor hai” re­ davit filed by Gandhi in bour but he will feel happy if lem is the absence of ‘empan­ prises Muslims, Yadavs and mark on Prime Minister Nar­ which he had expressed re­ he gets munasib majdoori elled’ hospitals, where Dalits. Grand Alliance’s can­ endra Modi while referring to gret over his remarks. (appropriate wage).” people can availtreatment. didate and former Chief Min­ the Rafale judgment, which Gandhi claimed the re­ Moreover, the govern­ ister of Uttar Pradesh BJP President Amit Shah, along with his family, in Ahmedabad AP the apex court said was “in­ marks were made in the “heat ‘Losing an identity’ ment hospitals are not in a Akhilesh Yadav will face Bho­ correctly attributed” to it. of political campaigning”. However, things changed in good shape. “You name the jpuri film star Dinesh Lal Ya­ The top court said it will The Bench sought to know 1999­2000, when the place disease and we have a patient dav ‘Nirahua’ of the BJP.It will hear on April 30 the criminal from Rohatgi about content was under curfew for 30 days here, but without resources go for poll on May 12.