Speculations are now swirling in the aftermath of the seat-sharing formula firmed up by the arch rivals for nearly 25 years-Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samajwadi Party-as to whether the poll pact involving the two parties in politically crucial Uttar Pradesh would impact the poll equations in the Haridwar Lok Sabha seat too.
BJP, which won the seat with a thumping margin during the 2014 LS poll-the saffron party swept Uttarakhand at the time, triumphing comfortably over all the five seats up for grabs in the State, riding the Narendra Modi wave-, is now worried over the possible impact of the just reached understanding between the two players in the neighbouring State on the poll equations in this high-stake constituency. Notably, Haridwar was deemed to be a Congress bastion till the 2014 election when the BJP wrested it from the grand old party.
However, the saffron insiders confided that the party is in comfortable position with the Congress being left out of the seat-sharing arrangement. “Had Congress been in the alliance, things would definitely have been tougher for us to retain the seat. But we are breathing easy now as our main rival in this seat has been left high and dry by the two parties,” a senior district BJP leader said.
Observers say that the changed poll equations in UP would definitely cast shadows on the poll matrix of the lone LS seat of the district. “With Dalit-Muslim combine constituting nearly 40 percent of the electorate here, if BSP-SP alliance chooses to put up a candidate for the seat, it would land Congress in deep trouble. Though usually the combine prefers Congress to BJP, the alliance candidate might wean away a large chunk of the combine’s traditional votes from the Congress and it would definitely give an edge to the saffron party in the polls,” said an observer.
A number of Congress leaders are now engaged in jockeying for the seat. The important of them is the redoubtable Harish Rawat who is supposed to have groundswell of support in the district. Besides Rawat, there are Sanjay Paliwal and former MLA Ambrish Kumar who have also their eyes trained on the seat. As for the BJP, the incumbent Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ is sure to try every means to secure re-nomination. The State Urban Development Minister Madan Kaushik is also breathing over his neck. Speculations are running rife over Chaudhry Rajender Singh who left the Congress and joined BSP being nominated as the BSP candidate for the seat. Besides, the State BSP chief Kuldeep Baliyan is already in the race, which has made things a little murky.
“Things are still murky and fluid. There might be an understanding between the Congress and the SP-BSP combine in the State for the LS polls as both are out to humble the BJP.
In case Congress does not mellow and chooses to field candidates in all the seats in UP as announced, the combine may field a candidate here to spite the chances of the Congress candidate, something which would just help the saffron party to sail through,” said a long-time political watcher.
