While the ruling BJP replaced senior party leader and sitting MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh with his youngest son Karan Bhushan Singh, 33, as its candidate for the Lok Sabha polls from the Kaiserganj seat neighbouring Ayodhya in east Uttar Pradesh, Karan is fighting his debut election in his father’s name.
Of the 75 Lok Sabha seats that the BJP is contesting in UP out of 80, leaving five for its NDA allies, the party declared Kaiserganj’s candidate along with that of Rae Bareli at the very end — on May 2, just one day before the deadline for filing of nomination there.
Kaiserganj is going to polling on May 20 in the fifth phase of polls.
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The former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief, Brij Bhushan, 67, has been facing allegations of sexual harassment levelled against him by six women wrestlers.
A six-time MP, five as the BJP face and one on the Samajwadi Party (SP)’s ticket, Brij Bhushan is known as a strongman Thakur leader whose writ runs large in east UP. He has been actively associated with more than 50 educational institutions, including engineering, pharmacy, education, law and others that he established in Bahraich, Gonda, Balrampur, Ayodhya, and Shravasti districts.
Since the BJP nominated his son as the Kaiserganj candidate, Brij Bhushan has kept a low-profile, keeping himself away from the limelight of the campaign trail.
Ganga Nath Tiwari with his elder son at their brick kiln. (Express Photo)
He did not accompany Karan when he went to file his nomination papers in Gonda on May 3, although his show of strength was then on display. Later in the day then, he organised a big rally there for his son, which was attended by UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya. He attended the event but kept it low-key.
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According to local BJP insiders, Brij Bhushan had been addressing public meetings earlier but since the declaration of Karan’s candidature he has largely been managing his son’s campaign from behind the scenes while camping at his house in Gonda.
Karan, who is UP Wrestling Federation chief, shares his father’s interest in wrestling and shooting. In his campaign, he keeps on invoking his father.
“I am standing before you today like a son, nephew or friend. You have given your support and blessings to my father for 35 years. I want to assure you that I would not let you feel his absence,” Karan told a rally in Payagpur Assembly segment in Bahraich district.
Also Read | Three reasons why BJP dropped Brij Bhushan Singh, opted for his son in Kaiserganj
The Kaiserganj constituency comprises five Assembly segments which fall in the Gonda and Bahraich districts.
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Accompanying Karan, the BJP’s Payagpur MLA Subhash Tripathi told the gathering that they should vote for him not just for Brij Bhushan but also for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He went on to list the Modi government’s achievements over 10 years on various fronts including road connectivity, electricity and employment.
The Kaiserganj constituency is dominated by the Brahmin community which accounts for about 30% of its population as compared to 20% Thakurs, 10% Kurmis (OBC), 10% Dalits and 15% Muslims.
The SP has named Ram Bhagat Mishra, a former Congress leader, as its candidate from the seat, while the BSP has fielded a local businessman Neeraj Pandey.
In the 2019 polls, Brij Bhushan had defeated the BSP’s Chandradev Ram Yadav by over 2.61 lakh votes.
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When asked about Brij Bhushan, an associate of Karan said, “He is not canvassing publicly but he is behind his son’s campaign for the seat… Karan is fighting the election in just his name.”
Another BJP worker also said Brij Bhushan is overseeing the entire campaign from his home, holding meetings there regularly.
Brij Bhushan’s elder son Prateek Bhushan, the sitting BJP MLA from Gonda, has been engaged in canvassing for his brother.
In Kharpurva village, Raj Bahadur Yadav, 40, who runs a paan shop, said, “The election scene is clear. Although Karan is a new face, it is being fought in the name of Modi and Brij Bhushan.”
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On whether he or others from the local Yadav community would back the Akhilesh Yadav-led SP’s candidate, he said, “What have they done for Yadavs here… If they had given some strong candidate, then we would have thought about it.”
Asked about the allegations of sexual harassment against Brij Bhushan, he claimed, “It is not an issue in this constituency.”
About 20 km away, at Pasin ka Purva, 48-year-old Vidyawati is waiting for an auto along with her neighbour Kamla. Both women, belonging to the Pasi (Scheduled Caste) community, seem to be unaware about the candidates in the fray or the wrestlers’ protests that had taken place in Delhi for months against Brij Bhushan last year. They however hail Modi.
An elderly man Ganga Nath Tiwari, who runs a brick kiln along with his sons near Kaisarganj town, had seen the wrestlers’ protests on TV. He admitted that the women from his family were moved by it. He, however, said, “This is not an issue in this election here.”
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He listed the consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya and the scrapping of Article 370 among the key poll issues in the constituency this time.
