Shrikant Sharma stresses on Brajwasi lineage to woo Mathura electorate

NEW DELHI: In Delhi, he is virtually the right-hand man of BJP President Amit Shah. But in Mathura, where Shrikant Sharma is fighting his first election, he is reinforcing his other identity - that he is a Brajwasi.
The media face and national secretary of the party, Sharma was born in Govardhan in Mathura - where Lord Krishna is said to have lifted Govardhan mountain on his finger. Sharma, who studied till Class 12th in Mathura, is trying to lift a Goverdhan mountain too - of dislodging a 4-time Congress MLA from Mathura who holds the seat since 2002 and is the party's legislative leader, Pradeep Mathur.

"I met sadhus and saints of Mathura and Vrindavan yesterday - they said all people believe l'm a Brajwasi," Sharma told ET in Mathura on Friday amidst hectic campaigning after meeting his booth incharges. The 'local Vs bahari' issue is there in Mathura after BJP fielded Hema Malini from the Mathura Lok Sabha seat in 2014 and she won. Pradeep Mathur while filing his nomination on Friday said Sharma has been in Delhi for long and is hardly a local. Sharma arrived here three days ago and went straight to the revered Banke Bihari temple in Vrindavan for blessings. A picture of Lord Krishna rests next to his camp office chair. "15 saal, Mathura Behal. Vidhayak badlo, Mathura badlo," Sharma says is his battle cry. The holy towns of Mathura and Vrindavan fall in this seat.

It takes a congested 30-minute ride to cover 10 kilometers till the heart of Mathura and Vrindavan from the Yamuna Expressway. "Both towns are perpetually traffic-logged, water-logged and without any basic infrastructure needed for a prominent religious site. I feel ashamed seeing my home town in such a state. Mathura gets salt water - I will bring pure drinking water to the land of Krishna...I will clean the Yamuna river. We will connect Vrindavan and Mathura by Metro," Sharma says about his promises. Sharma raises the Jawahar Park incident in Mathura last year where two senior cops died in violent clashes while evicting a sect's followers. "That was the law and order failure of Akhilesh Yadav," he says.

After BJP leader J.P. Nadda specially mentioned Shrikant's candidature while reading out tickets given by BJP earlier this week and given Sharma's closeness to Amit Shah, speculation is also rife that Sharma may be a dark horse Chief Minister contender if BJP wins in UP. "Mein party ka ek sipahi hun. I am indebted to the party and party president Amit Shah for giving me responsibility as national secretary, as the media-incharge and now a ticket from Mathura," Sharma says. Not short of broad knowledge of BJPs strategy in UP, Sharma told ET that Akhilesh was a "doobta hua Jahaaz" which will sink even faster with the Congress. "Akhilesh is also a Yuvraaj and so is Rahul Gandhi. Both Yuvraajs are incompetent and it has been proved. UP does not need Yuvarajvaad, it needs parivaratan," Sharma says.

The Mathura seat has almost 55% Brahmin votes, 24% Jats and 18% Muslims. BJP last had this seat from 1989 till 2002. Complicating the matrix, Samajwadi Party on Friday declared a candidate from here notwithstanding talk of an alliance with Congress. BJP is also facing protests from its partymen in the Braj region over distribution of tickets but Sharma said such protests were dying down. "Only a miniscule number of seats have seen some protests. People have expectations from the party since BJP is winning the upcoming UP polls," he said.