Turncoats led to BJP’s triumph in UP in 2017
Last polls had seen the BJP fielding the largest number of turncoats (numbering 65) from different seats of UP
PRAYAGRAJ: Defection of 10 BJP legislators in Uttar Pradesh, including three ministers in the Adityanath government like Swami Prasad Maurya, Dara Singh Chauhan and Dharam Singh Saini, may have jolted the saffron party and its leaders but back in the 2017 polls, it was the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which was the biggest beneficiary from turncoats, political analysts point out.
In the 37 years since its inception in 1980, the BJP had achieved the biggest victory in the state in 2017 with the party’s own candidates bagging 312 seats and its allies bagging another 13, taking the tally to 325.
Parties that are expected to perform well in an election usually attract defectors. Last polls had seen the BJP fielding the largest number of turncoats (numbering 65) from different seats of UP, followed by the BSP entering 29 and SP fielding 26.
In 2017, a total of 200 turncoats had entered the poll fray, said Prof MP Dube, political analyst and former vice-chancellor of UP Rajarshi Tandon Open University (UPRTOU).
However, out of the 200 party hoppers, just 60 emerged victorious and the BJP had the maximum with 52 turncoat MLAs, including 25 who had come to it from BSP, 14 from Congress, seven from SP and three from RLD, besides another three from smaller parties, he added.
Defectors who won for the BJP in 2017 included veterans like Bihari Lal Arya, five-time Congress MLA from Mauranipur (earlier Kannauj), who fought and won on a BJP ticket from his seat having lost the last three polls till then, he shared.
If one took just Prayagraj as just a sample study, because of the party hoppers BJP managed to take eight of the 12 seats (it had not fielded candidates on three seats leaving them for its ally Apna Dal) on offer that included five that were won by the turncoats, Prof Dube said.
The turncoats who won here included now cabinet minister Nand Gopal Gupta “Nandi”. Having started his political career in 2007 after defeating BJP veteran leader Pt Keshari Nath Tripathi in his stronghold Allahabad South, Nand Gopal Gupta “Nandi” had become MLA for the first time and went on to become a minister in the BSP chief Mayawati-led state government.
However, he shifted to the BJP just before the 2017 elections and won the seat. Prior to that, he had contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections on a Congress ticket, Prof Dube pointed out.
Similarly, Harshvardhan Bajpai, who won from Allahabad North seat and Praveen Patel, who won from Phulpur for the saffron party had deserted the BSP and joined the BJP in the run -up to the polls.
Ajay Bharti left the SP and contested from Bara assembly seat of trans-Yamuna area of the district on a BJP ticket, helping the lotus bloom, akin to Vikramajit Maurya, who left the Congress and joined the BJP to contest and win the Phaphamau seat in 2017.
“Only three assembly seats of Prayagraj were won by the BJP’s old candidates, including Sidharth Nath Singh who won from Allahabad West, Neelam Karwaria who bagged the Meja seat and Rajamani Kol who emerged the winner from Koraon seat in 2017.
BJP candidate Piyush Ranjan Nishad had lost the polls from Karchana seat last time in a setback to the party—the only BJP candidate to lose in 2017 in Prayagraj”, said Prof Pankaj Kumar, head of Allahabad University’s political Science department.
The BJP had given the seats of Soraon, Handia and Pratappur to its ally Apna Dal as part of the alliance agreement. Out of these, only Jamuna Prasad could reach the assembly from Soraon.
In Handia, Pramila Tripathi, wife of a strong leader Rakeshdhar Tripathi, had to face defeat. From Pratappur, Capt Karan Singh Patel had lost to BSP’s
Mohd Mujtaba Siddiqui (now in Samajwadi party), he shared.
Congress too bet on a turncoat
The 2017 assembly election was fought jointly by the SP and the Congress. Ramkripal, who had raised the CPI(M) flag for a long time in trans-Yamuna belt, was also a turncoat who switched sides to the Congress which entered him in the poll fray from Koraon. But he was defeated by BJP’s Rajamani Kol by more than 53,000 votes.
Defectors helped BJP win both parliamentary seats The process of defections continued even after the 2017 assembly elections in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The BJP had given tickets to Rita Bahuguna Joshi and Keshari Devi Patel, both turncoats who had emerged victorious from Allahabad and Phulpur parliamentary seats respectively. Rita Joshi had come to the BJP from the Congress while Keshari Devi Patel had left the BSP top join the saffron party. In 2019, Yogesh Shukla had left the BJP and joined the Congress to become its candidate from the Allahabad parliamentary seat but had lost.
Many leaders have shunned BSP to join SP After the 2017 assembly elections, many BSP leaders have switched side to the SP. Pratappur MLA Mujtaba Siddiqui and Handia MLA Hakimlal Bind have joined the SP now. Former BSP MLA Pooja Pal, who lost from Allahabad West in 2017, is also now in SP. Geeta Pasi, who unsuccessfully contested the 2017 elections on a BSP ticket from Soraon and Manoj Pandey of BSP who had entered the fray unsuccessfully from Phaphamau seats are also both in the SP.