UP polls: SP, Congress want to cash in on note ban anger to beat BJP

Lucknow: Major political parties in UP, which earlier claimed the demonetisation move was designed to impact the Assembly elections, now want the elections to be held sooner than later.

The note ban has emerged as a major election issue and almost all parties, especially the Opposition, feel it would work to their advantage if elections are held in early February, though the term of the Assembly expires in May 2017.

The ruling SP is happy that the note ban issue has deflected attention from the infighting in the Yadav clan. While CM Akhilesh Yadav is promoting his development agenda, the party is going overboard in highlighting the ‘ill-effects of currency ban’. The SP, incidentally, had not held any agitation on the issue. “We are fully ready for polls and the earlier they are held, the better it will be for us,” he said. SP state president Shivpal Yadav said on Tuesday that people are in distress due to the scrapping of currency and the economy in the rural areas has shattered. The Congress also feels that the issue will work to its advantage.

“The note ban has heaped problems on the farmers, weaker sections, and we are aggressively speaking against its implementation,” said UPCC chief Raj Babbar.

The BSP is already running a campaign against the BJP on this issue and its leaders say that early polls would help them cash in on the public sentiment, while the BJP is also for the early polls as the party leaders feel that the issue is being adeptly handled by the PM.

Since the demonetisation issue is all pervasive, the Congress is confident that this will help the party cross the barriers of casteism and communalism, which have kept the party out of power for the past two and a half decades.

The BSP is already running a campaign against the BJP on this issue and its leaders say that early elections would help them cash in on the public sentiment. The BSP is linking demonetisation with the problems of Dalits and downtrodden.

The BJP is also on early elections because the party leaders feel that the issue is being adeptly handled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and that the larger population is supporting him. BJP leaders cite the crowds at Prime Minister’s recent rallies in UP as proof of this. “We are certainly not worried because the people are supporting us. It is only the disgruntled Opposition that is creating a din over demonetisation because the war against corruption has hit them the most,” said UP BJP president Keshav Maurya.