Maya pops up surprise, decides to field Rajput from Pilibhit

LUCKNOW: Chief minister and BSP supremo Mayawati's answer to new Hindutava mascot Varun Gandhi is Ganga Charan Rajput, a known party hopper, who after 2004 Lok Sabha elections had threatened to shot himself if Congress chief Sonia Gandhi refused to take the post of prime minister.
Maya sprung the surprise at an election meeting in Fatehpur on Wednesday.She announced that Budhsen Verma, who was earlier announced to be the candidate from Pilibhit and had also filed his nomination, had been replaced with Rajput who joined the BSP two months back. She said "Rajput comes from a Lodh community and there are 2.5 lakh Lodh in Pilibhit, besides around three lakh Dalit and three lakh Muslim.
While Maya feels that Rajput would be a stronger candidate than Verma, her partymen in Pilibhit were shocked by the development and said that the move would backfire. BSP leaders in Lucknow told TOI that by slapping NSA against Varun, Maya had won hearts of Muslims and now by putting a strong candidate against the BJP in Pilibhit, the party would consolidate its position among Muslims in West UP.
But a party leader from Pilibhit pleading anonymity said that the decision to replace local candidate with an outsider at the eleventh hour was suicidal. "Verma also belongs to Lodh community and is a local, working here since long. He has good standing among Muslims, Dalits and Lodhs," he said while talking to TOI on telephone. "The message gone is that we have given walkover to Varun," he added.
Now who is Rajput? Recall the scene on TV screen from outside 10 Janpath in New Delhi after declaration of 2004 LS poll results. Atop a vehicle, a man with revolver on his temple threatening to suicide demanding Sonia Gandhi to accept prime ministership. Rajput became MP from Hamipur in Bundelkhand in 1989 on a Janta Dal ticket. Later, he joined the BJP and won from Hamipur in 1996 and 1998 but lost in 1999. He left BJP and joined Congress in 2004. He was hoping to get Congress ticket this time but when denied, he became Maya-bhakt.
Besides Maneka Gandhi's son Varun, other candidates in the fray in Pilibhit are her cousin BM Singh as Congress candidate and SP's Riaz Ahmad who was at one time fielded in assembly elections by the Sanjay Vichar Manch, an outfit formed by Maneka in the 1980s.
The delimitation has also changed demographic profile of the constituency with over 10 lakh voters. While Muslim-dominated Bahedi assembly segment of Bareilly has now been added to Pilibhit, Hindu-dominated Puwain has been omitted. BJP's support base here has been Kurmi and Lodh, who constitute half of the population. But things changed in 2007 assembly elections when three Muslim candidates won --two from BSP and one from the SP.
While Kurmis are still with BJP because of Santosh Gangwar, six time MP from neighbouring Bareilly, the Lodhs are angry because of Kalyan's ouster. BJP hopes that polarisation of Hindu votes will cut across caste lines. SP, BSP and Congress are fighting to get support of Muslims, who would vote against the BJP. SP is luring Muslims by fielding a Muslim and BSP is trying to grab minority vote by projecting that its Dalit-Lodh combination can counter BJP better than the SP.