Phase-wearied UP polls end in a crescendo

LUCKNOW: Three back-to-back road shows in a city by a prime minister are unheard of but when it comes to poll campaigning, Narendra Modi is hardly a traditionalist.

He took Varanasi by storm, talking about his special bond with the holy Hindu city, which is part of his Lok Sabha constituency. But, the BJP’s carpetbombing of Varanasi also betrayed signs of nervousness.

“We can’t afford to lose Varanasi even if we win Uttar Pradesh,” a BJP leader said.

Varanasi, which falls in east UP, or Poorvanchal in local parlance, voted Wednesday, the last of the seven phases of polling in the country’s largest state.

The BJP was not alone in deploying big guns.

Anxiety among all big players in UP’s first-ever triangular contest went a notch up with every passing phase — and there were seven of them.

For the first time in the marathon poll season, alliance partners chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi roped in Dimple Yadav, who is the SP MP from Kannauj and CM’s wife, for a road show in Modi’s Varanasi.

Mayawati, too, took a gamble. She joined hands with the Quami Ekta Dal of don Mukhtar Ansari, who is in jail, to pick a couple of seats in the region.

Stakes are high for all players in Poorvanchal, which accounts for 89 seats and voted in the sixth and the seventh phases.

In a tight contest, the region could well decide who gets past the 203-mark in 403-member House.