In Lucknow’s Sarojini Nagar’s constituency, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) candidates are facing the “outsider” vs the “Brahmin face” challenge. While SP’s Abhishek Mishra, a trusted lieutenant of Akhilesh Yadav, and its ‘Brahmin face’ from the constituency, is fighting off the perception that the party consists of goons and criminals, BJP’s Rajeshwar Singh, a former joint director with the Enforcement Directorate, is trying to shun the “outsider” tag.

“SP knows only one type of politics that is of casteism and of communalism. Our ideology is ‘rasthra pratham’ (nation first). Their ideology is ‘bhrastachar pratham’ (corruption first), jaati and parivar pratham (caste and family first),” Rajeshwar Singh tells News18.

Mishra, who calls Singh an “outsider”, mentions his love for Lucknow and recounts his association with his birth city. “The other person (Rajeshwar Singh) who has come to contest from one party has just come to Lucknow for the first time in the political context. He is going to be here for 20 days and after that pack his bags and go away. Having a family in a city isn’t same as being in that city. BJP knows that someone local will not be able to win that seat so somebody from outside who was asking the seat from Sultanpur, then Ayodhya, has been pitched from Lucknow,” Mishra commented.

Besides, the “outsider” tag, Rajeshwar Singh has a “local” problem. The BJP has denied the ticket to its sitting MLA and minister, Swati Singh, from the Sarojini Nagar constituency, which, perhaps, has not gone down well with her. Knowing that cadre support is important, Rajeshwar met Swati on Wednesday seeking her support.

“Swati Singh is a senior leader and a sister to me. We all will fight elections together,” said the former ED official when asked about Swati’s resentment.

Many in the BJP believe that though Swati has lent her support to Rajeshwar, she is not “happy with the arrangement”.

New Constituency, New Challenge

While SP’s Mishra claims Lucknow as his own, Sarojini Nagar constituency will be a new challenge for him as he had contested from Lucknow West in the past.

“I did so much work in my constituency but the party has commanded me to contest from Sarojini and I am happy to obey it,” said Mishra.

The fact that Mishra, too, is contesting from this seat for the first time is not lost on the BJP.

Rajeshwar Singh’s candidature is being questioned by the Opposition as he was at the epicentre of several investigations into the scams during the UPA’s tenure.

Even Karti Chidambaram tweeted against Singh calling his candidature a transfer from “wholly owned subsidiary to parent company”.

When asked about these criticisms, Singh, who was exiting the Hanuman Temple clad in a Bhagwa dhoti and kurta before filing the nomination, smiled and said, “Let Karti ji fight his case and face the trial.”

In the 2017 assembly polls, nearly 2.90 lakh people voted. While 1.08 lakh chose the BJP, SP’s bagged around 74,000 votes, followed by BSP, which received 71,000 votes. There was one Independent candidate, Rudradaman Singh, who secured 20,000 votes and is contesting on a Congress ticket this time.

A Thakur face from the Congress, Rudradaman Singh, is being considered significant as he can cut into community votes that may go to BJP’s Rajeshwar Singh.

“He is also a Thakur just like Rajeshwar Singh and he was able to secure 20,000 votes (in 2017) and had received 41,000 votes in 2012,” said a senior BJP leader.

How Crucial is the Brahmin Factor for SP?

Considered the Brahmin face of the Samajwadi Party, Abhishekh Mishra is receiving support from the leaders of the community, which can impact the outcome of the election result.

Mishra, who called Rajeshwar Singh an “outsider”, recognises the value of the support from the Brahmin community. “Brahmin can’t forget three things – Apmaan (insult), Samman (respect) and Ehsaan (favour), said Mishra while receiving greetings from the community representatives at his residence in Gomti Nagar.

Whether he believes that he can exploit the dissatisfaction of the community to his advantage, Mishra said, “I do feel that Brahmins are feeling very hurt in the BJP for a very long time. I think it started when the BJP declared that Lord Parshuram isn’t a God but a Mahapurush. And it’s not where it ends, in every Mohalla, Brahmins felt humiliated,” Mishra said.

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Mishra had filed half of the nomination papers on Wednesday following his astrologer’s advice and is scheduled to file the rest on Thursday.

Development VS Polarisation Debate

When asked about Akhilesh Yadav’s “Jinnah comment”, Mishra said, “Jinnah was brought in the politics by Advani ji. He paid his respects. If BJP has enough guts, they should ask him why he did that. Why did the PM go uninvited to Pakistan to have Biryani?”

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He alleged that the BJP talks about “Hindu, Muslim, Mandir-Masjid, Kabristan and Shamshan, and when nothing is left, they bring in Pakistan-Taliban.”

Singh, however, says it is the development and law and order situation in the state that characterised Yogi Adityanath’s administration unlike criminals and mafias of Samajwadi Party.

“Development is the plank on which the BJP is fighting this election, and that CM Yogi (Adityanath) is aspiring for a 1 trillion economy,” said Singh.

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