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| Will CM plays Sunni Muslim card | | UP polls anytime before May 14 | |
BL KAK
NEW DELHI JAN 4
Muslims in Uttar Pradesh are a force to reckon with. No wonder, in an apparent atempt to appease and woo the Muslim voters, especially the vocal Sunni community, the ruling Samajwadi Party led by the Chief Minister, Mulayam Singh Yadav, observed a Black Day on Wednesday to protest the hanging of former Iraq President, Saddam Hussein.
The Samajwadi Party has been worried about the Muslim voters gradually deserting it showing preference for strong contender for power, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and a resurgent Congress party. Chief Minister, Mulayam Yadav, is scheduled to follow up the programme by addressing a series of rallies in different parts of the State, harping on denial of justice to the deposed Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein.
BSP supremo, Mayawati, on the other hand has chosen the deteriorating law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh as the main poll plank. The party has planned a series of public meetings for her and is expected to announce detailed schedule in the next few days. Clearly, rival political parties have upped their ante in the run up to the crucial Assembly polls in UP. A series of meetings, rallies and protests have been planned to woo the voters for the elections.
Uttar Pradesh is scheduled to go to polls anytime before May 14, when the outgoing Assembly completes its five-year tenure. The Election Commission continues to maintain stoic silence over the timing of the Uttar Pradesh elections although it has fixed February dates for elections in three other States-- Punjab, Uttarakhand and Manipur.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which lost power in the 2002 State polls, is ready with a detailed plan for a four-phase agitation to highlight what it terms acts of omission and commission of the government. Buoyant by its success in the civic elections late last year, the BJP has worked out its plans meticulously. The party kicked off its campaign on Thursday (Jan. 4). During the first phase, the agitations would take place at the subdistrict level between January 5 and 13. The second phase of agitations would be held at the district level from January 16 to 31.
The fortnight-long third phase starting on February 1 is the most important one for the BJP plan when its central and State leaders will form six groups and fan out in different parts of UP to highlight need for change in the State. The fourth phase from February 16 to March 18 would see party leaders addressing rallies in all 403 Assembly constituencies.
This, according to party strategists, would ensure they would have covered all constituencies by the time the actual campaigning starts and they would then have to start follow up actions. The BJP has chosen a wide range of issues including non-availability of fertilisers and irrigation facilities, lower procurement price for sugarcane, farmers‚ suicide, inflation, police atrocities and dismal law and order situation.
The Congress party, which had finished fourth in 2002 elections behind the Samajwadi Party, BSP and the BJP, is currently busy selecting suitable candidates. Party chief, Sonia Gandhi, is expected to address a couple of rallies in the run-up to elections while her parliamentarian son, Rahul Gandhi, may eventually formally take charge as its active campaigner.
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