Prime Minister Narendra Modi's planned three-day sojourn in his parliamentary constituency of Varanasi between March 2 and 5, coinciding with the sixth and seventh phase of polls in Uttar Pradesh, is being seen by the BJP as a trip that could make a critical difference to the party's fortunes in the 111 seats of Eastern Uttar Pradesh in the fray.
Eastern Uttar Pradesh is considered crucial for any party that seeks power in the State, many saying whoever holds the area wins the state. It is also the home of the social engineering that the BJP effected in 2017, with alliances with Apna Dal and the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj (SBSP) party, consolidating the non-Yadav OBC vote (nearly 35% of the votes in the State) to sweep the area. The narrative was that the Samajwadi Party had seen the overwhelming dominance of the Yadav community at the cost of the other OBCs, and that the BJP was willing to share power and welfare goodies with these groups. That consolidation is now under threat of being splintered by the Samajwadi Party trying to regroup as a larger OBC-Muslim umbrella party, with an alliance with former BJP ally, the SBSP, and poaching several OBC leaders, including three Ministers from the BJP.
