The Nitish Kumar effect is such that a rush for Kurmi votes has started among political parties in Uttar Pradesh.

An undeterred Bihar chief minister's third public meeting in east Uttar Pradesh will be held in Phulpur area of Allahabad on July 17. On May 12, he had addressed a meeting in Pindra, Varanasi, and on June 18 at Chunar, Mirzapur. All three districts are known for Kurmi concentrated pockets.

The Janata Dal United has made no bones about its political ambitions in Uttar Pradesh in the 2017 Assembly polls, which is a matter of life and death for all four major political players in the state.

A jittery Samajwadi Party had on May 13 inducted Beni Prasad Verma, though he had gone to the extent of blaming Mulayam Singh Yadav for the rise of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's Ram temple movement in 1990 by allowing them, in the capacity of Uttar Pradesh chief minister, to gather in Ayodhya.

Mulayam is president of the Samajwadi Party.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inducted Apna Dal's Anupriya Patel in his council of ministers two days ago.

Party insiders claim that both Mulayam and Modi hope that Beni and Anupriya would bring their caste votes in the basket of the SP and the BJP respectively in 2017.

Even Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati has been toying with the idea of bringing a Kurmi face at the forefront.

"She may assign Lalji Verma, who was parliamentary affairs and also finance minister in her government between 2007 and 2012, to hold bhai-chara meetings of Kurmis," said a BSP leader on condition of anonymity.

The BSP is known for bhai-chara (brotherhood) meetings of each caste before elections.

Beni, Anupriya and Verma are all Kurmi leaders of east Uttar Pradesh. Nitish, who is also the JDU president, is also an important Kurmi leader.

None of these parties had shown such hurry in assembling the Kurmi votes before the Bihar chief minister became active in Uttar Pradesh and started holding his party workers' and public meetings.

The Congress is seen to be lagging behind in this race because it is already an ally of the JDU in Bihar and may be planning to continue the friendship in the Uttar Pradesh elections.

The venue selection for Nitish's meetings reconfirms the JDU's interest in his caste voters. This time it is Phulpur's Bhulai Ka Purva. There is a Kurmi population of about three lakh in a radius of 35km of the village, where he will address the people on July 17.

Shyam Sundar Singh Patel, president of Akhil Bharatiya Kurmi-Kshatriya Mahasabha, who had been supporting Apna Dal in the past, has decided to throw his weight behind Nitish.

"We want him to succeed in UP politics at any cost to strengthen his campaign against liquor. I have started holding meetings of the Kurmis to support the JDU," said Patel, an apolitical leader.

Nitish has banned liquor in Bihar and is demanding the same across India.

"The Kurmis are not happy with Beni's opportunism because he deserted the Congress to join the SP. Apna Dal is already divided between Krishna Patel and Anupriya, the mother and the daughter. Mayawati never cares about the OBCs. Obviously, our caste voters may turn to Nitish," Patel said.