Mayor seat no cakewalk, will steer parties’ fate in ’24

Kanpur: Congress may have failed to make its presence felt in the UP assembly polls, but it seems to be making a mark in the Kanpur civic poll, putting BJP and Samajwadi Party leadership on their toes and promoting vigorously their candidates.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his deputies addressed public meetings for the BJP candidate, while SP MP Dimple Yadav campaigned exclusively in Kanpur. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and his uncle Shivpal Yadav addressed public meetings in Kanpur Dehat and held road shows in Kanpur city.
The Congress candidates in the fray were left to their own means to seek votes as the party leadership apparently chose to focus on Karnataka assembly elections. BJP, on the other hand, is taking this civic election as a crucial factor that will decide its fate in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Winning the city mayor seat will reflect not only the future course of that party but also its own state of affairs, so BJP has put all its strength into campaigning for it by engaging all its senior party leaders.
Minister Nand Gopal Gupta Nandi visited the city on May 3, deputy CM Brajesh Pathak on May 4, minister Swatantra Dev Singh on May 5 and 6, deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya on May 6 and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on May 9.
Samajwadi Party too has thrown its weight behind the candidate to wrest the Kanpur mayor seat. National general secretary Shivpal Yadav held four public meetings in the last 10 days, while MP Dimple Yadav held a roadshow on May 8 and on May 9 her husband SP national president Akhilesh Yadav led a road show to appeal to the public to vote in favour of his party’s candidate.
Five mayors have been elected in Kanpur from 1995 to 2017. All have been from the upper caste.
A senior political analyst was of the view that in 22 years, SP, BSP, Congress fielded people from other castes as candidates. “But voters of Kanpur have always elected a candidate from the upper caste. This time, BJP, SP and Congress have picked upper caste persons to contest for the coveted post,” he said and added, “It is also being said that this time Muslim votes will also be a deciding factor, as, along with Brahmin voters, Muslim voters have kept their cards close to the chest. All these equations this time have made the mayoral election rather interesting.”