Sleepy Akbarpur remains BSP's stronghold

Akbarpur, May 2: This sleepy small town, some 60 km from the temple town of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh was rather unknown till the candidature of Ms Mayawati in the Lok Sabha polls lent it a VIP status but not before it had already become a citadel of BSP which even today looks impregnable.

Mayawati may have left the Akbarpur Lok Sabha seat in 2002 to take charge of the state chief ministership, but her association with the new district is still remembered by the residents, many of whom complain of the step-motherly treatment at the hands of Mulayam Singh Yadav government.

''We want her back for the development of the town,'' says a student Manu, supported by a bunch of bystanders at a tea shop. Even a Muslim mechanic Layeek has a word or two in her favour saying only Mayawati could do what she desired to.

There was a time in 1993 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls when all the five seats of the district were in BSP's kitty. It lost a small ground in 1996 and 2002 assembly polls when it conceded two and one seat respectively to the ruling Samajwadi Party.

The odds are tilted heavily in favour of the BSP which seems confident to go for the repeat of 1993 riding the crest of anti-incumbency wave against the ruling dispensation coupled with interesting caste factors in the May 8 polls in the district.

The three-time parliamentary seat of Mayawati, has five assembly segments of Akbarpur, Jalalpur, Tanda, Katehari and Jahangirganj (Res), four of which have BSP sitting members.

Jalalpur seat is in the possession of Rakesh Pandey of SP who is again contesting against his familiar rival Sher Bahadur of BSP who last fought the seat on BJP ticket.

In fact, all the assembly seats of the district have attached with these the prestige of many big names in the state politics in some way or another thus making the contest in the district very interesting if not competitive. The two office-bearers of BSP, which include state party president Lalji Verma and the national secretary Ram Achal Rajbhar, are in the fray from Tanda and Akbarpur seats. Both the leaders have been ministers in Uttar Pradesh and have won three times on these seats.

They have the task of winning not only their own seats but influenced the other three seats in the favour of their party. The former BSP MP Tribhuvan Dutta from Jahangirganj (SC), sitting MLA Dharam Raj Nishad from Katehari and former MLA Sher Bahadur Singh are in the fray from Jalalpur.

Another factor which is making BSP supporters toil hard is the presence of senior SP minister and the leader of the Upper House in the state legislature Ahmad Hasan in the district. He hails from Jalalpur and his hard work can have a positive effect on the party's performance in other seats as well.

Akbapur, once being a part of Faizabad district, has say of Congress leaders like Nirmal Khatri and BJP candidate from Ayodhya Lallu Singh but their preoccupation with now other district of Faizabad makes the contest between BSP and SP rather straight on the five seats of the district.

Bharatiya Janata Party has interestingly pitched in Janata Dal (U) candidate at Jalalpur and Apna Dal candidate from Tanda as part of its electoral alliance with both the parties in UP assembly polls.

The presence of Kurmi votes and their subsequent division with Apna Dal candidate may make the contest on Tanda seat curious, but it can change the scenario is hardly possible.

BSP's strong-hold is not really challenged but it will have to give in all to retain four seats and wrest the fifth one.

UNI