Is Varanasi safe for Modi? Kejriwal ready to fight Modi Is the Varanasi seat absolutely safe for BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi? Yes, say political analysts around the country, but those who are well versed with the ground realities in the holy city still have their doubts. With AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal on one side and mafia don-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari on the other, the going for Mr Narendra Modi may not exactly be very smooth. There are no doubts about his victory from the holy city but it is the margin that matters most in his case. Modi? Naam hi kaafi hai. Kuchh karne ki zaroorat nahin hai. Bachcha bachcha Modi ka naam janta hai, says Gulshan Kumar, a local BJP leader, rather over-confidently. And it is this over-confidence of BJP workers in Varanasi that could make the going slightly tough for the Gujarat chief minister. To begin with, Mukhtar Ansari, a jailed mafia don, is certainly not the light-weight that he is being made out to be. Ansari contested the 2009 elections on a BSP symbol against Dr Murli Manohar Joshi and lost by a margin of merely 17,000 votes. He had contested the polls from inside the jail. Ansari, who has been in jail since 2005 on charges of murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai, may have a long list of criminal cases but among the people, he enjoys a Robinhood image. Varanasi has over 3.5 lakh Muslim voters — most of them belonging to the weavers community — and they hold Ansari in high esteem. The Modi fear factor among minorities will undoubtedly make them rally behind Ansari. Mr Kejriwal, on the other hand, will eat into a portion of the BJPs pie. His jhadu symbol is already a great hit among dalits, who believe that the Aam Aadmi Party is some sort of an alternative to the BSP. Whatever votes the AAP gets will be mostly culled out from the BJP support base. The problem with the BJP in UP is its growing over-confidence that seems to be swelling as the elections draw closer. Party cadres, over-enthused by Mr Modis presence, refuse to work overtime to mobilise voters. As they repeatedly say, Modi ka naam hi kafi hai. In Varanasi, Mr Modi is not familiar with the party workers and sources say that his own team from Gujarat will be landing shortly in Varanasi for poll management. The Gujarat team, again, will not be familiar with the complexion and geography of the constituency which is rather complex. A senior BJP leader in Lucknow admitted that over-confidence of party leaders and party workers could give some tense moments to Modi in
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 08:00:00 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015