Deoria to host Modi rally 6 months after Rahul’s ‘khat sabha’!

Now with 5 phases of the Uttar Pradesh assembly poll behind us, the spectre of election razzmatazz shifts hammer and tongs to Eastern UP districts bordering Bihar and Jharkhand.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) mascot and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address two election rallies in Maharajganj and Deoria districts tomorrow.

Interestingly, Deoria was the first port of call for Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi about six months back to roll out his series of ‘khat sabha’ rural backwater meetings in run up to the 2017 UP election.

The concept of ‘khat sabha’ was devised by poll strategist Prashant Kishor for the revival of Congress in the crucial state of UP, after having experienced political wilderness in the state for 27 years.

At that juncture, Congress had yet not firmed up a pre-poll alliance with the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) and was ready to fight UP poll all alone with its punch-line of ‘27 saal, UP behaal’.

Congress re-jigged its poll strategy and aligned with SP to forge a joint front against BJP. Besides, SP was looking for a suitable partner to fend off the stiff challenge posed by BJP and Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). The party was also afflicted with power feud and infighting at that time.

Meanwhile, polling is slated across 49 assembly segments comprising 7 districts in the 6^th phase, including Maharajganj, Kushinagar, Gorakhpur, Deoria, Azamgarh, Mau and Ballia.

The candidates in this phase include SP turncoats and now BSP candidates Ambika Chaudhary and Narad Rai, Ram Govind Chaudhary, Durga Yadav, Surya Pratap Shahi, Shaqir Ali, Fateh Bahadur Singh etc. Mafia-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari is also contesting from Mau as BSP nominee.

The last phase polling is due on March 8 in 40 assembly constituencies across 7 districts, including Ghazipur, Varanasi, Chandauli, Mirzapur, Bhadohi, Sonbhadra and Jaunpur. The votes would be counted on March 11.