The Malhani assembly constituency in Uttar Pradesh that has been a bastion of the Samajwadi Party is witnessing a very tight contest with strongman Dhananjay Singh fighting on a Janata Dal (United) ticket against SP’s Lucky Yadav. The battle is significant because of Dhananjay, whose name has been used by SP president Akhilesh Yadav to target UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath on his claims of reining in the mafias.

Despite the caste arithmetic here being titled towards the SP, as the seat has a significant number Yadav and Muslim voters, Mulayam Singh Yadav is coming to address a rally for the party’s candidate. The Samajwadi Party patriarch has addressed rallies only on two seats: one was his son’s constituency Karhal and the second will be Malhani. Preparations were in full swing as cars and motorcycles zoomed past people asking to vote for SP this time.

The Malhani seat was won in 2020 by Lucky Yadav in a bypoll necessitated by the death of his father. He emerged victorious by a close margin of 4,632 votes, with Singh coming second.

Lucky Yadav is the son of seven-time MLA, two-time MP and three-time minister late Parasnath Yadav, who was considered close to Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Dhananjay Singh too was out campaigning and he believes that even if the whole Yadav family will come to campaign for Lucky Yadav, he would still win. This is a claim that has been made by Lucky as well. Half of the roads were adorned with BJP flags as barely a few kilometres away Prime Minister Narendra Modi was addressing a public rally in support of assembly candidates in Jaunpur district, including KP Singh contesting from Malhani.

‘Then krantidoot, now mafia’

When CM Yogi Adityanath targeted the SP for giving tickets to “criminals and mafias”, Akhilesh had tweeted a photograph of Dhananjay Singh playing cricket. This even as he was shown absconding in police files.

On this, Singh said Akhilesh has done his five years of politics on Twitter.

“Please go back a bit in history and it was we who caused the fall of the BSP and BJP government, and Mulayam Singh Yadav became the chief minister. He and his whole family— Shivpal and Akhilesh— used to visit us in prison. Tab hum kranti ke doot they kya, aur ab hum mafia dikh rahe hain (we were revolutionaries then and now we are mafias)? People should think while saying things. Ask Akhilesh anything, he will say one thing in the morning and another in the evening.

‘No moral sermons please, we all are the same’

The strongman contesting from Malhani said that the SP has fielded the whole of the Ansari clan and even those who are lodged in jail. “There was a time when three MLAs were murdered and the-then BJP national president sat on a dharna, even then no action was taken. The party whose chief says about rape that ‘kids do make mistakes’ (referring to Mulayam), can such a party talk about ethics and morals,” said Singh.

Lucky Yadav too is seen aggressively propagating that CM Yogi Adityanath has spared Dhananjay because he belongs to the chief minister’s kshatriya caste. He also stirred up sentiments against the BJP in the Brahmin community by taking up the case of Khushi Dubey, who is in jail after her husband, gangster Amar Dubey, was gunned down by police.

“The CM works for one caste. I want to ask what was the fault of Khushi Dubey that she is in prison? She was married two days earlier. Here a person on whose head there is a Rs 25,000 reward is playing cricket. When will the bulldozer be called in? He was spared because of belonging to a particular caste. I am getting Brahmin votes,” said Yadav.

Will votes for Dhananjay mean votes for the BJP?

“Voters have grown intelligent. The fight is a close one between Singh and Yadav. The BJP candidate is not even campaigning that much. We also know that voting for Dhananjay may eventually mean voting for the BJP,” said local resident Bhagat Ram, sipping tea and discussing politics with five others at a tea stall.

There are others who believe that in this fight of two cats, the monkey may take away the morsel. “Dekhiye kya pata do logon ki ladai mein teesra jeet jaaye,” said Ramesh, a tailor, when asked who is winning from the seat. His statement was strongly contested by many others sitting around the shop.

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