Phoolan and former wrestler in electoral ring

MIRZAPUR, Sept 13: A former wrestler and a former bandit queen are once again in the ring with the score one-one.

The Mirzapur Lok Sabha constituency, spread on either side of river Ganga at the foothills of the great Vindhyas is witnessing yet another keen contest between former wrestler Virendra Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and former dacoit Phoolan Devi of the Samajvadi Party.

When Phoolan made her way to Parliament defeating Virendra Singh in the 1996 elections, the "pinned" Pehalvan learnt quite a few new tricks and two years later avenged his defeat in the 1998 elections.

A fortnight of intense electioneering in Mirzapur indicates that none of these two rival, are having an initial edge and the final outcome will be determined by national issues and performance of the "revived" Congress and the formidable Bahujan Samaj Party.

Virendra Singh is yet to apply his "Brahmastra", "the Atal hold" to pin down his opponent while revengful Phoolan is launching a well planned raid on the political assets of the BJP.

A total 17 candidates are in the election fray and apart from Virendra and Phoolan, the remaining 15 are not mere spectators. Shyamdhar Misra (83), a veteran of Nehruivian era is the Congress candidate, and Rajendra Tripathi, a "De-Manuvadi Brahmin", is BSP’s nominee and they both add new dimensions to the election battle here.

Mr Misra who had won Mirzapur seat in 1962 refuses to be bogged down by his age or the meagre 14,000 votes polled by Congress in last elections. Likewise, the BSP candidate started his campaign with the initial party vote assests of around one lakh.

Mirzapur Lok Sabha constituency comprises five Assembly segments — Bhadohi, Gyanpur, Aurai, Mirzapur and Chhanbe — and in 1998 election Virendra Singh polled 3,46635 votes and Phoolan secured 2,93858. The BSP candidate managed to garner 1,62,000 votes while Congress was a poor fifth behind Apna Dal.

Caste equations are as important as always and the BJP hopes to gather large chunk of Brahmin, Thakur and other upper caste votes besides the voters from the new support base among some middle castes. Phoolan banks on Yadav, Mallah, Muslim and OBCs while BSP is trying to add votes from other caste while keeping intact Dalit votes.

Shymadhar Misra’s entry into election fray has changed the traditional caste calculation to some extent.

Mr Misra is appealing to the electorate to favour expertise and experience in selecting their representative in the Lok Sabha. "Carpet industry needs an expert and vocal voice in Lok Sabha to further its interests in the age of globalised trade", Mr Misra said. He recalls efforts made by him as Central Minister to develop carpet industry which was a small business in the 1960s and gradually developed as a major source of foreign exchange earnings.

The Congress managers claim that carpet industry is fully backing Mr Misra and a positive response from minority community plus Brahmin votes would make a strong equation in favour of Mr Misra.

The BJP and the SP circles admit the effect of Misra factor but are confidant that as polling date comes closer the polarisation will be around Virendra Singh and Phoolan.

Virendra Singh, a forceful spokesman of "Swadeshi lobby" within the BJP, says mindless liberalisation pursued by Narsimha Rao regime was the main cause of the problem faced by carpet industry. The Congress failed to counter the child labour bogey raised by the Western countries and their patronised NGOs. The BJP would unmask their designs and develop the industry as an ideal example of small scale industry.

Phoolan Devi has also picked up the terminology of trade and commerce and is assuring carpet traders to work for providing subsidy to industry so that it can face the global competition.

She alleged that in the last election, the upper caste people indulnged in large scale booth capturing and her defeat was the result of voters intimidation by the BJP cadres. "Safeguard your votes and polling booths to safeguard democracy", is her message in all her village meetings.

Rainy season has made it difficult for candidates to reach the interior villages and they are using Jeeps that can wade through the water filled village roads. Public meetings are organised in the dim lights of petromax and lanterns and villagers wait till late at night to listen to the candidates.

The BSP has fielded Rajendra Tripathi as its candidate and it will be interesting to watch the voting behaviour of the dalits. The BSP leaders say the Dalits have full faith in elephant and a Brahmin candidate would add more votes. But Dinanath Bhaskar, a former BSP leader who is presently in the Samajwadi Party camp claims," the Dalits will not vote for Brahmin candidate and ultimately vote for Phoolan.

Mr Bhaskar said the Mallah caste to which Phoolan belongs is in the Scheduled Caste list in most of the States though it is considered OBC in Uttar Pradesh. The Dalit will certainly favour Phoolan instead of Rajendra Tripathi, he claimed.

In the Mirzapur election scenario the internal party dynamics of the BJP is also in evidence. The known dissident in State BJP Surjit Singh Dang represents Mirzapur Assembly constituency while Mirzapur is the home district of State BJP president Rajnath Singh. The party camp claims that party cadres are working with only one aim — to make Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee the Prime Minister all other matters will be sorted out later.

Mr Vajpayee is scheduled to address an election meeting on September 15 followed by Congress president Mrs Sonia Gandhi. Ms Mayavati, Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, Raj Nath Singh, SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav have already toured the constituency. Visits by Mr Vajpayee and Mrs Sonia Gandhi will influence the voters in a decisive way.

The Carpet Export Promotion Council office bearers lament that the labour intesive carpet industry which provides employment to more than 25 lakh people, lacks political backing. The industry with export earnings of Rs 2200 crore is facing stiff challenge from China where the Government is helping the industry to upgrade loom technology. Cheap labour and Governmental assistance are major strength of the Chinese carpet industry. Unfortunately in India stringent labout laws, tax deduction at source, and higher interest rates are causing hardship to manufacturers.

Mirzapur constitutency presents a picture of contrast. While carpet exporters are using internet and participating in global trade practices, the villages lack the basic facilities. In some of the villages weaker section voters have never even caste their votes. (UNI)

TDP planning large-scale rigging, alleges Cong

VIJAYAWADA, Sept 13: Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president Y S Rajasekhar Reddy today alleged that the ruling TDP, sensing "poor performance" in the first two rounds of elections, was planning to indulge in large-scale rigging and misuse of official machinery in the third phase of polling in the State on September 18.

Addressing a press conference here, he said the TDP had selected police officers on special duty for the purpose.

Exuding confidence that the Congress would come to power with a comfortable majority in the State, he said supply of free power to farmers would be the first policy decision of the new Government. They would also be provided with quality seeds, pesticides and timely loans.

Dr Reddy said his party would provide two million LPG connections to women as against one million announced by the TDP. Women would be provided 33 per cent reservation in employment and the allocation of STD booths. Rs one lakh margin money would be given for self-employment to those who underwent family planning operation. Stating that his party was against privatisation of the State Electricity Board (APSEB), Dr Reddy said efforts would be made to make it economically viable.

Asked whether the Congress was for prohibition, he felt that awareness should be created among the people about the social evil.

Referring to the bomb explosion in Panchayat Raj Minister Kodela Sivaprasad’s house in Narsarao Pet on August 28, in which four people were killed, he alleged that the State Government was trying to hush up the case. (UNI)