Union minister confident of victory in Yadav fortress of Karhal

Lucknow: Pitted against Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav in Karhal seat, Union Minister SP Singh Baghel says no area can be termed as a “fortress” or “stronghold” as personalities like Rahul Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee have also tasted defeat in their bastions.

He claimed the fight in the high-profile seat is not “one-sided” as a journey across the constituency would show that there is a BJP wave.

Brought in politics by former chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, the BJP leader advised his principal opponent to try his luck from some assembly segment of Azamgarh too.

When asked whether he could demolish the fortress of the Yadav family, Baghel told PTI, “There is nothing like fortress or stronghold in democracy. We have seen demolition of such fortress. You have seen Rahul Gandhi got defeated in Amethi and Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal.”

Besides Dimple Yadav got defeated twice in Firozabad (2009 bypolls) and Kannauj (2019). In 2019, Akshay Yadav lost from Firozabad while Dharmendra Yadav lost from Budaun, he said.

Banerjee had tasted defeat in last year’s assembly polls from Nandigram from where she had shot into limelight after launching the anti-land acquisition stir against Tata’s Nano project in 2007 during CPI-M rule.

Since the day of nomination on January 31, Baghel has been residing in BJP leader Govind Bhadauria’s house in Ghiror, where he has also made his election office. He leaves in the morning and continues to meet people till late in the evening.

About his winning prospects, Baghel said, “My election is going very good. If someone from Akhilesh Yadav’s party can honestly tell him, he should go to Azamgarh and file nominations from there also”. “No one can dare to tell him that his seat (Karhal) is not clear, which is the reality,” he said.

After filing his nominations, Akhilesh Yadav had said that he had left his campaign to party workers here and he will not be coming. “But finding the going tough he came to campaign for himself on Sunday,” the 62-year-old Baghel said.

When asked about the SP’s claim that election in Karhal is one-sided, Baghel, a former UP police subinspector, who was once a security officer of ex-CM Mulayam Singh Yadav said, “If it is one-sided why he has pushed members of his family here for campaigning”.

“Why Dharmendra Yadav (former Budaun MP), Tej Pratap Yadav (former Mainpuri MP) and other members of his family are campaigning for him,” he asked.

“If someone understands politics, he should come and attend my meetings and see for himself the ground reality,” he said.

“Not only crowd but current of Karhal is visible in my meetings and indicates a BJP wave. The helplessness on the faces of people has ended with my entry in the poll fray,” he asserts.

“Though Akhilesh has selected the best of the 403 seats for him but he knows his win from here is not clear. He must not have expected that I will filet nominations against him from here,” he said.

Mulayam Singh got elected from Mainpuri by margin of over 90,000 only despite the SP’s alliance with the BSP in 2019 and my margin was over two lakh from Agra seat, he said.