UP Civic Polls: Has Opposition accepted defeat at hands of BJP?

Anurag Shukla

Lucknow: Where Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has used all its might to win the ongoing Uttar Pradesh Civic Body polls, its top three opponents seem to be least interested. At least the difference in their campaigning method suggests the same.

BJP:

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and several other top BJP leaders have been extensively campaigning across the state over the past few weeks. Even the CM has been scheduled to hold 40 public meetings amid the elections. The party has also set up phase -wise 'war-rooms' to encourage the electorate to cast their votes in favour of BJP.

Samajwadi Party:

On the other hand, Samajwadi Party, which is being looked as the toughest competitor for the ruling BJP in the civic polls, is only behaving like they are not interested in winning the local bodies. Even the party president Akhilesh Yadav has been missing from the scene and has formed a team to look after the campaigning.

He might have been asserting that his party workers are more than eligible to contest the elections on their own, but considering the thumping defeat in the Assembly polls earlier this year, this confidence can later turnout to be 'overconfidence'. Being the 'youth icon' of the Samajwadi Party, Akhilesh Yadav was expected to be campaigning for the elections, but his absence has hinted that they are not interested in the local bodies at all.

BSP:

Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has been searching for some ground in the state since almost being wiped out in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and 2017 UP Assembly elections. Following the same reason BSP decided to contest the local body elections on their own symbol (elephant), but Mayawati herself has been missing from the party's campaign so far.

The party supremo, however, has reached Bhopal to hold a big rally there amid the civic polls in UP and the party workers are trying to circulate her message across the state here.

Also Read: UP Civic Polls: Development has no religion, says Yogi

Congress:

Congress is once again looking to be off track amid the polls in the state. Their situation can be judged by former union minister Pradeep Jain himself being their Mayor candidate in the local body elections. Despite this, the senior leaders of the party are not taking the elections seriously.

Even in Lucknow, Congress had three candidates for the post of Mayor. All the state level leaders of the party have become national leaders, while the party is left with no leaders to represent them in the state. So, they are looking clueless amid the urban body elections of the state.

What could be the strategy of the Opposition in the elections?

Civil bodies have always been the stronghold of BJP in Uttar Pradesh, even during the times when they could not score significant numbers in the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections. So, it is a major possibility that the big leaders of the Opposition have not joined their party's election campaign as they do not want to take the credit of their probable defeat in the civic body polls.

For Yogi Adityanath himself, the elections are very significant as the results will also ascertain that the people of the state are happy with their Chief Minister and BJP has not lost its ground in the state following the Centre's decisions like Goods and Services Tax (GST) and demonetisation.