Gangs of Ghazipur bruising SP in eastern UP

It was past 10 in the night when two white Pajeros with similar number plates sped into a hotel porch in Varanasi. Around 30 men waited in the lounge as Afzal Ansari, a former MP whose brother Mukhtar Ansari was fighting the election from behind bars, got off one of the cars and walked in.

Spotting a few media persons in the crowd, he asked the rest to see him later. Ansari, whose Quami Ekta Dal had merged with BSP in January, had just ended a day of hectic campaigning for his MLA brothers and nephew-- Mukhtar from Mau, Sibgatullah from Mohammadabad and Mukhtar's son Abbas from Ghosi. Over a large cup of tea, he exuded confidence about the performance of BSP, shared his angst over how relations soured with the Samajwadi Party and claimed that the BJP's ticket distribution in the region had become its worst disadvantage.

"What do you want to see in Ghazipur? How the Samajwadi Party is trying to help BJP in Mohammadabad... But, the BSP will do well," said Afzal. According to him, the BSP would get the votes of Dalits, Muslims and even a section of Brahmins. Mayawati was hoping to consolidate the Muslim vote in her party's favour by getting on board the Ansaris-- known as the Bahubalis of eastern UP-- who have held sway over seats spread across three districts of eastern UP — Ghazipur, Mau and Ballia. The SP had swept these districts in the last assembly polls, winning 12 of 16 seats.

That Afzal resented being seen as mafia or a don was apparent when he recalled his past of fighting three elections as a member of the Communist Party of India (CPI). "I also held the red flag and shouted Lal Salaam, fighting the feudal system and naxals," he said.

The glint in his eye disappeared when he spoke of the SP. He said it was SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav who had proposed merger of his party initially saying it would have won them three more seats in 2014.

However, with the Ansaris joining BSP and SP failing to put up a candidate in Mohammadabad, it has turned out to be a direct contest between Sibkatullah and BJP's Alka Rai, the wife of MLA Krishnanand Rai, for whose murder around two decades ago, Mukhtar was one of the accused. The Ansaris merger with BSP seems to be pushing back the SP in the electoral battle in several seats of the region, as Mayawati tries to regain hold over lost territory.

"I am fighting a criminal, not a party... People want peace and have faith in Modi," said Alka, as she campaigned in villages of Mohammadabad. As she took on the Ansaris, she underlined how they had "humiliated" SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav. The BJP, which appeared to have an edge in the seat, was hoping to get sections of the Yadav vote in Mohammadabad as an added advantage to its strategy of mobilising the non-Yadav OBCs and non-Jatav Dalits.

One of her supporters said "she has now taken the form of Durga. She is no more like she used to be."

Ramu Yadav, who used to drive her husband often, said "look at her now. She used to stay indoors and I had never even seen her when Krishnandji was MLA."

Alka, who won the by-poll in 2006, accused the Ansaris of winning through politics of fear. "If Mukhtar was released, he would have tried to put pressure on people to vote for him," she said.

But, along the Ghazipur and Ballia roads, people who supported the Ansaris said they had "helped the poor."

Parma mistry, who voted for Afzal from Ballia in the Lok Sabha election last time, said "they do work for the poor. They don't hurt us. The fight now is between BSP and BJP." Parma had voted for BJP in the 2014 Lok elections in the Modi wave.

Afzal Ansari refuted that his family had played politics on the communal card in a place with just eight per cent of Muslim population. While he was dismissive of a "Modi wave" or the SP-Congress alliance, Afzal said the BSP was "silently" winning the race.

In the 2007 assembly elections, Sibkatullah defeated Alka and in 2012 won against SP's Rajesh Rai. Mukhtar has been winning elections consistently since 1996 in Mau, never polling less than 60,000 as an independent or with a party.

The BJP is relying on the Modi factor to take on the BSP and SP-Congress alliance.​