Lucknow, March 5: Before the 2014 general election, when the BJP swept Uttar Pradesh, Narendra Modi had held just one road show and no rally in his parliamentary constituency, Varanasi.
This time, as the state votes in an Assembly election, the Prime Minister has already held two street programmes and two rallies in the city, yesterday and today. BJP sources said he was planning a third consecutive road show and meeting tomorrow.
A scornful Akhilesh Yadav today attributed this blitzkrieg to "desperation", saying Modi was fighting a losing battle to salvage the Assembly seats in Varanasi, where defeat would be particularly embarrassing.
"The Prime Minister's road show yesterday was a damp squib. So he decided on a repeat today. He may do another tomorrow," the Samajwadi Party chief minister told a rally in adjoining Sonbhadra district.
Political observers and even some BJP insiders acknowledge that Varanasi could be a big challenge this time for Modi, not least because of dissidence within the local party unit.
Many see Varanasi's eight Assembly segments as a weathervane for Modi in the context of the 2019 general election. The Prime Minister's cavalcades have so far covered only the three seats that fall within Varanasi city: North, South and Cantonment.
BJP sources, however, claimed that voters from all the eight constituencies attended the Prime Minister's rally today.
When Modi held a road show in Varanasi on April 24, 2014, after filing his nomination papers, the crowds thronging the streets had been much bigger. Most of them were young men, mobile phone in hand and wearing saffron caps, jeans and T-shirts that carried Modi's pictures.
But most of the people at Modi's programmes yesterday and today had been brought from the adjoining districts, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati claimed. Indeed, few in the crowd held smart phones or were dressed fashionably.
"While people of Indian origin are under attack in America, the Prime Minister is touring the streets of Varanasi. It's an indication that the BJP is in a shambles this Assembly election," Mayawati said in Lucknow.
She alleged that Modi hadn't taken the Election Commission's permission for yesterday's road show, echoing a complaint the Varanasi Congress has registered with the poll panel. "The Prime Minister has violated the model code of conduct," Mayawati said.
Union minister Piyush Goyal has claimed that Modi didn't hold a road show yesterday.
"A large number of BJP supporters thronged the streets to see the Prime Minister while he was travelling to offer prayers at the Kashi Vishwanath and Kal Bhairav temples," Goyal said.
Yesterday, the Prime Minister had set off in an open car from Banaras Hindu University, a key location in the context of youth voters, and ended his journey three hours later at the temple of Kal Bhairav, the city's guardian. He later addressed a rally at Town Hall.
Today, he started from Pandeypur near Sarnath, where the Buddha had first taught Dhamma to his five disciples. He covered 6.5km and addressed a rally at the Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth.
BJP politicians are worried about the infighting in Varanasi. One of the dissidents is Shyamdev "Dada" Roy Chaudhari, who won the last seven elections from Varanasi South but has been dropped this time. Modi reached out to him yesterday.
The BJP's candidate in Varanasi Cantonment is Saurabh Srivastava, whose parents Harish Chandra and Jyotsana won the seat six times previously. Many in the party are dismayed, having expected Modi to discourage dynasty politics.
In Varanasi North, disgruntled ticket hopefuls Ashok Singh and Sujit Singh are contesting as Independents against official nominee Ravindra Jaiswal.
The Rohaniya seat, left to ally Apna Dal (S) of Anupriya Patel, is witnessing a challenge from her mother Krishna Patel's Apna Dal following a split in the party.
Many local BJP politicians are sitting idle in Shivpur, unhappy with the choice of Anil Rajbhar.
In Sewapuri, the Patel vote may split between the Samajwadi-Congress alliance and the BJP-Apna Dal (S), benefiting Mayawati. The BJP has little hope in Pindara, stronghold of sitting Congress MLA Ajay Rai.
Kailash Nath Sonkar of the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, a BJP ally, is contesting in Ajagara. Dilip Sonkar of the BJP, initially promised the ticket, is showing little interest in the election.
