Former Union Minister and late prime minister Indira Gandhi’s second daughter-in-law Maneka Gandhi for the first time found a severe challenge to win in the Lok Sabha polls. Till now irrespective of her party symbol, she used to elect easily by directly interacting with the voters.
Her bid for a ninth term in Parliament is one of her most crucial fights in her long- political career. Pushed to the margins of the BJP, with her son Varun Gandhi denied a ticket, Maneka must win Sultanpur to sustain her political legacy.
On the other hand, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav paying special attention towards the constituencies where high-profile BJP leaders are contesting. Stating that except Varanasi, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is contesting for the third consecutive term, BJP is going to lose all seats in Uttar Pradesh, he is trying to create a kind of psycho fear in the ruling party.
As there are over 20 percent of Muslim voters in the constituency, Maneka Gandhi is not mentioning Ram Temple, the major campaign issue for other BJP candidates. She admitted that “I have not made it (the Ram Temple) an issue here,” and she is talking about her work and promising to do “more and more”.
“At the end of the day, people just want their problems to be looked at and want a personal relationship (with their representative). Over the last five years, I have made such personal relationships with visits to every village… There are just local issues here… I work for everybody,” she added. She is also using Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s name and his achievements also only occasionally, unlike other BJP leaders.
Referred to as “Matashree” or “Mata ji” by people in the constituency, Maneka had a relatively narrow win from Sultanpur in 2019, by about 14,000 votes against a local influential leader, Chandra Bhadra Singh, fielded by the Samajwadi Party-BSP combine. It was her first contest from Sultanpur, after moving here from Pilibhit, vacating the latter seat for son Varun.
Interestingly, three-time MLA Chandra Bhandra Singh now joined SP giving a great boost to its poll campaign. He is an influential Thakur, who are in good numbers in the constituency and expressing their discontent towards BJP openly.
