After Muktaar Ansari's recusal, AAP & Congress rush to claim Muslim votes in Varanasi

VARANASI: The morning after Quami Ekta Dal candidate Mukhtar Ansari withdrew from the contest in Varanasi, a festive cheer marks the campaign headquarters of both the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and workers of both parties insist that the nearly 2.5 lakh critical Muslim votes would now accrue to their candidates.

“Many people from the Muslim community have told us that it was them who persuaded him to withdraw from the contest. In fact, they have told us, forget about canvassing among us, concentrate on those communities who you are yet to persuade,” says AAP’s media coordinator Prerna Prasad. Ansari, who has shifted to Ghosi in eastern Uttar Pradesh, was believed to be a hindrance to consolidation of Muslim votes behind any of the BJP’s rivals. He is likely to support the AAP in Varanasi since he is the main accused in the murder of Congress candidate Ajay Rai’s brother, Awdhesh Rai.

The AAP is waiting for its chief and candidate from Varanasi, Arvind Kejriwal, to arrive on April 14 and start the door-to-door campaign that could help him garner some support. “Muslims are with us, and so are a section of Kurmis as there has been a revolt against Anupriya Patel of Apna Dal for tying up with the BJP,” says Prem Sagar Pal, advocate and head of the unit’s legal cell.

In the Congress office too, the effect of Mukhtar Ansari’s recusal has been taken as a body blow to a walkover to Modi. “We don’t know who asked him to withdraw, but we are grateful he did,” says Devendra Singh, general secretary of the Pradesh Congress Committee. It is now BJP versus Congress and the more the contest heads in this direction the tougher it will be, he adds.

Supporters of Congress candidate Ajay Rai have been saying that while Modi is bound to resign this seat even if he wins, Rai will still be around. “Kaam ke liye to unhin ke paas jaana padega, (we will have to approach him only for work),” says Arvind Kumar Tripathi, district level Congress leader.

Afzal Ansari, brother of Mukhtar, who is still incarcerated on various charges, says his party will declare its support for one part or the other by April 17, the day nominations begin. The BJP, which has set up its campaign office in the swankiest building in Varanasi, says that all these factors will come to naught. “Modiji will be here between 17-20th April to file nomination, after which campaign will really take off. The result of this election is a foregone conclusion, no questions,” says Krishnendu Tripathi, a veteran party worker. “Wave main yeh sab bemaani hai, (nothing really matters in a wave),” he says.