Caravan News
NEW DELHI: The candidate of united Opposition in the Kairana Lok Sabha by-elections in Uttar Pradesh has got a big boost just day after the show of unity and strength by the Opposition leaders in Bengaluru.
Begum Tabassum Hasan’s brother-in-law and Independent candidate Kanwar Hasan dropped out of the race in her favour on Thursday, making her chances brighter against BJP’s Mriganka Singh who is contesting for the seat that fell vacant following the death of her father and BJP leader Hukum Singh. This will consolidate the five lakh Muslim votes in favor of Begum Tabassum Hasan who is contesting on the ticket of Rashtriya Lok Dal but has support of all major opposition parties – Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Congress. Polling will be held on Monday.
Down from the defeat in Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats earlier this year, BJP is leaving no stone unturned to retain the Kairana seat. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had been winning the Gorakhpur seat for about a quarter century while Phulpur was won by his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya in the 2014 polls. But the BJP lost both seats to Samajwadi Party of Akhilesh Yadav whose candidates were backed by Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party.
In the Kairana by-poll, the Opposition has become more united and stronger than it was in the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha by-polls. This time, Congress too has joined the fold while RLD of Ajit Singh has fielded the candidate.
Akhilesh, Mayawati, Ajit Singh and Rahul Gandhi besides various other Opposition leaders shared the Opposition unity stage in Bengaluru on Wednesday when HD Kumaraswamy was being sworn-in as Chief Minister of Congress-JDS alliance government. Both had contested the Karnataka Assembly polls separately but even as the votes were being counted and picture of a hung Assembly was getting clear on 15th May, both joined hands to form a post-poll alliance. In the 222-member Assembly, BJP won 104 seats, Congress 78 and JDS 37 seats.
In Kairana, besides Muslims, with Samajwadi Party, Bahajun Samaj Party and RLD coming together, it is most likely that votes of Yadavs, Dalits and Jats will also consolidate in favor of Begum Tabassum Hasan.
