The assembly poll scenario in the five poll-bound states is becoming interesting with each passing day. The first and foremost priority of the aspirants is to secure the nomination from a political party.
In demand are the nominations from the BJP, the Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the Aam Aadmi Party apart from regional forces in Goa, Manipur, and Punjab.
On Thursday too, the political scene was agog with reports of Samajwadi Party chief and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, who is a Lok Sabha member, of fighting assembly elections from Karhal in Mainpuri district of U.P. which is considered to be their family’s stronghold.
His decision to jump in the fray of assembly polls gains significance as U.P. chief minister Yogi Adityanath has already been declared as the BJP’s candidate from Gorakhpur assembly seat, the town from where he hails and presides over the Gorakhnath Math in the city.
In another development, Chandrashekhar Azad, the youth Dalit icon and chief of Bhim Army, announced that he will contest opposite Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur Sadar seat. Yogi is five-time MP and will fight his first assembly election this time, Chandrashekhar Azad will make his electoral debut from eastern U.P. politics hotbed of Gorakhpur. His Azad Samaj Party formally made the announcement on Thursday.
The cross-over from one political party to another continued on Thursday in U.P. as the BJP, feeling buoyant after the induction of Aparna Yadav, daughter-in-law of Mulayam Singh Yadav, opened its doors to welcome Pramod Gupta, brother-in-law of Mulayam Singh Yadav and Priyanka Maurya, who was the face of Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s “I am a girl, I can fight’’ high-pitched campaign in U.P.
Polling in U.P. will be held in seven phases beginning from February 10 and going on to February 14, 20, 23, 27 and March 3 and 7. The counting of votes will be taken up on March 10 along with other four states – Goa, Manipur, Punjab and Uttarakhand.
In another interesting turn of events in Goa, the shadow of former chief minister of Goa Manohar Parrikar who played a pivotal role in establishing the BJP in the tiny coastal state but died two years ago due to ill-health, was casting its spell on the party affairs. His son Utpal Parrikar’s demand of contesting from his late father’s seat Panaji has been turned down by the BJP. The young engineering graduate is firm on fighting from Panaji seat which was held by Manohar Parrikar for 25 years. Manohar Parrikar had been Goa chief minister for three times and had died in office in 2019.
The BJP has already announced the name of Babush Monserrate, a former Congressman, from Panaji who had been Manohar Parrikar’s rival for a long time. The party has offered choice of two other seats to Utpal Parrikar which he has rejected so far.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal made an offer to Utpal Parrikar to join Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and contest from Panaji seat on the party’s ticket. Kejriwal announced the offer in a tweet. Goa will go to polls on February 14.