No big battles likely in UP polls

While Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav will not be fighting the UP Assembly elections as he is a sitting member of the Legislative Council, the Congress’ CM candidate Sheila Dikshit will also not be contesting the polls.

BSP supremo Ms Mayawati, a Rajya Sabha member, is leading her party’s campaign from the front while the BJP is yet to make up its mind whether or not to project a “face” in the UP battle, whose outcome will have a bearing on national politics.

Mr Akhilesh Yadav, the Samajwadi Party’s “face”, recently clarified that he would not contest the elections since he was an MLC; his term expires in 2018. The Samajwadi Party will ask for votes on his performance in the last five years.

He is perhaps the youngest chief minister UP has had so far whose language is different from the “Mandalite” parties. His problem is not the BSP or the BJP but members of his own family who have tried hard to ensure that he does not get a profile.

The Congress meanwhile played the “Brahmin” card on the advice of election strategist Mr Prashant Kishor and announced Ms Sheila Dikshit as its CM candidate ignoring her age. But Ms Dikshit, who ruled Delhi for 15 years, is seen as a Delhiite rather than a “UP-ite”. She however will not be fighting the battle.

There is also no clarity whether Ms Mayawati will contest the polls or would prefer to fight a by-election after becoming the chief minister (if her party wins).

She is the only face of the BSP who has to campaign for the party extensively across the state against the two opponents – the BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mr Amit Shah and Samajwadi Party chief Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav who still attracts minorities despite his party’s crushing defeat in the Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP cannot afford to lose UP, not because it has won over 70 Lok Sabha seats from the state but because it has become a prestige issue for Mr Modi who retained the Varanasi seat after winning in the 2014 general election from two seats.

But the saffron party is finding it difficult to announce its CM candidate against CM Akhilesh Yadav and two former CMs — Ms Mayawati and Ms Sheila Dikshit — who are leading the battle of their respective parties.

The BJP likes to announce CM and PM candidates ahead of every election. It, however, did not announce a CM candidate in the Bihar elections due to infighting in the party, nor did not announce candidates in Kerala, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, as it was not a player in these states.