WHAT SHE REALLY MEANT
If the chief minister forms the government, he’ll be the first in the state’s electoral history to win two consecutive terms
The animated poll narratives in Uttar Pradesh had a mix of divisive and development issues this time. But the debate on the recent trend of states returning incumbent chief ministers in the country for their good work was lost in the public spat over ‘shamshan’ and ‘kabaristan’.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had been out of power for 14 years and was desperate to win UP — the adopted state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But the SP and the BSP ,who had been alternately ruling the state, posed major hurdles.
As there was no visible work that the party could showcase in UP barring demonetisation, Amit Shah raved about states such as Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, which had returned their incumbent chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Raman Singh respectively. Shah described it as a reward for their good governance and promised to develop UP on the same lines.
However, throwing a spanner in their efforts was Akhilesh Yadav, the young chief minister, who had silenced his critics by executing big development projects over his five-year turbulent tenure. He often demanded to know if any other state in the country could show one project as big as the Metro Rail and Agra-Lucknow Expressway that they had completed in their tenure.
While joining the debate, Akhilesh repeatedly told people about the prevailing trend of repeating chief ministers in the country. His one-liner was: “This election would prove if people voted for caste or for their aspirations.”
He knew Uttar Pradesh’s penchant for change rather than continuity in every election. The state has had 20 chief ministers since January 26, 1950. These include political giants such as Govind Ballabh Pant, Sampurnanad and CB Gupta. Of them, only five chief ministers could enjoy more than one term: Charan Singh, Narain Dutt Tiwari, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati and Kalyan Singh.
Traditionally, UP has never repeated an incumbent chief minister. But apart from ND Tiwari of the Congress, who is lauded for his development work, perhaps for the first time, an incumbent chief minister is being hailed for the work he has done for the state and is in the race for the crown again. Bucking anti-incumbency, AkhileshYadav became the driving force for the CongressSamajwadi Party alliance with poll partner and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi publicly lauding the development works undertaken by his government. All surveys billed him as the most popular chief minister of the state. Surprisingly, even those who had made up their mind to vote against the Samajawadi Party wanted a second term for him. Roadside conversations with people often revealed a vote for Modi and support for Akhilesh Yadav.
Whether Uttar Pradesh will break the tradition of bringing a new face every election or give him a second term will be known on March 11. It’s another matter that many BJP supporters, even if they celebrate the SP’s defeat and BJP’s victory, will openly sympathise with him, if Akhilesh fails to get a second chance.