The most politically surprising act during the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections has been the coming together of the Samajwadi Party and its erstwhile rival, the Congress, in an alliance that is as much a work in progress as any marriage of convenience can be.
But in Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency, the SP and the Congress have tried to forge an almost defiant sense of unity in the face of a common adversary, unlike the case elsewhere in the State.
‘Centre to blame’
In Pindra, one of the six Assembly segments making up the Lok Sabha constituency, Ajay Rai, the Congress candidate, is at pains to explain that it is the Centre, and not the State government, that is to blame for his arrest under the National Security Act two years ago.
Following the controversy over a ban on the immersion of Ganesha idols in the Ganga in Varanasi in 2015, Mr. Rai was jailed by the State government. The Allahabad High Court later quashed the imposition of the dreaded NSA on him. “I can say it with utmost confidence that it was the Centre, especially Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who compelled the State government to arrest me,” he says.
Despite assertions that the Centre has very little to do with law and order in a State, Mr. Rai sticks to his stand. His chances of winning are bright as he is not hemmed in by party affiliations (he had been an MLA from the SP, had been with the BJP briefly and later joined the Congress). “ Bhaiyya doesn’t need a party; he won as an Independent too,” an aide says to questions about the alliance’s durability.
The case of Samad Ansari, SP MLA-turned-Congress candidate from Varanasi (North), an urban seat, is even more curious. When the seat was tipped to go to the Congress, Mr. Ansari was made to join the party and he filed nominations on its symbol.
At his home in Varanasi, flags of both parties flutter in the light breeze and the candidate’s sales pitch factors in his party switch. “This is a candidacy of the alliance, and you people know who I am,” he says plainly to a crowd of waiting supporters.
Fostering solidarity
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Yadav is campaigning for these two candidates, an attempt to foster a Bihar-like solidarity among unlikely partners. For the alliance, the situation on the ground is hardly as confusing as it was for the seats in Amethi and Rae Bareli, where there were “friendly” fights between the partners.
The immediacy of the challenge posed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his home turf has fostered a solidarity among the SP and the Congress, history notwithstanding.
