Hardoi (Uttar Pradesh), Feb 18 : Since 1989, the Agrawals - father Naresh and son Nitin - of Samajwadi Party have never lost any election from Hardoi constituency, a key seat in central Uttar Pradesh which is also the ancestral home district of Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan.
But Sunday's election does not appear to be easy for the two leaders. The BJP is making a determined effort to cut into influence of Agrawals in Hardoi constituency and other seven seats in the district and the Bahujan Samaj Party is also making efforts to build on its committed voter base.
Naresh Agrawal has won Hardoi seat seven times. His son Nitin Agrawal, who won the 2012 polls as Samajwadi Party candidate, is in the fray again and is facing a challenge from Raja Bux Singh of Bharatiya Janata Party and Dharmveer Singh of Bahujan Samaj Party.
Regarded as a citadel of Agrawals more than that of Samajwadi Party, Hardoi will vote in the third phase of Uttar Pradesh elections to 69 seats on Sunday. The result is likely to have an impact political future of Nitin as well as his father, who sided with Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in the family fued of UP's ruling Samajwadi Party.
The Agrawals are leaving nothing to chance with their prestige at stake and have organised a public meeting of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, as also a big road show. They have also held rallies and done door-to-door convassing across the semi-urban seat.
Bux Singh had contested the last poll as a BSP nominee and lost to Nitin Agrawal by over 40,000 votes. This time he hopes to make it to the assembly on a BJP ticket.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a rally here on Thursday to improve prospects of BJP candidates on all eight seats in the district. Modi said the rally had four times as many people compared to his rally here in 2014 and spoke of farmers and "poor" law and order situation in the state.
Locals said that the fight on Hardoi was mainly between the SP and BJP with many giving the state's ruling party a slight edge.
Dheerendra Singh, a farmer in Hardoi, said that Nitin Agarwal will get a good share of minority community vote and the SP's alliance with Congress will also help him.
"Nitin will also get a good share of votes from the Dalit community which will further brighten his prospects," Dheerendra Singh told IANS.
He said about one lakh of total 3.4 lakh voters in Hardoi seat belonged to the Dalit community and around 33, 000 voters were from the main minority community.
"This time fight is close. Modi's rally drew a huge response. But my gut feeling is that Nitin will make it due to goodwill among people for his father," he said.
Singh said Naresh Agrawal is seen as a "go-getter" and a leader who commands a lot of influence in corridors of power in the state.
Ram Dutt Verma, a retried government employee, termed Naresh Agrawal as "the face of Hardoi."
"He is a powerful leader in state politics and is able to get work done. The BJP nominee is not so well known," Verma said.
Hardoi has been a tratitional seat of Agrawals since 1974. Naresh Agarwal's father Shrish Chandra Agrawal contested the seat in 1974 as Congress candidate.
Naresh Agrawal has fought seven elections from the seat since 1980 and never lost. He fought in 1980 from Congress and in 1989 as an independent. He returned to Congress and fought the polls in 1991, 1993, 1996. In 2002 and 2007, he fought the polls as a Samajwadi Party nominee.
In his chequered political career, Agrawal has also floated his own party and briefly joined BSP. He was a minister in the Mulayam Singh Yadav government from 2007.
Some voters said that Nitin Agrawal will face some anti-incumbency and there were also concerns against SP govenrment over women's safety.
Pawan Prajapati, a government employee, said there was talk of change, specially among the educated sections.
"We have tried SP, Congress and BSP but there's not been proper development. BJP is ruling at the centre and if it forms the government in Uttar Pradesh too, it will help speeding up development of the state," Prajapati told IANS.
BSP has run a relatively low profile campaign in Hardoi. Residents said that sizeable presence of Dalits will work to the advantage of its candidate Dharmveer Singh but it may not be enough.
Anuj Singh, a banker, said there were chances that Naresh Agrawal's citadel may fall this time.
"Modi has appeal across sections. The poorer sections in Hardoi are keeping their counsel. There may be an undercurrent in favour of BJP," Anuj Singh said.
Rajiv Dwivedi, a farmer, said the farming community was unhappy with the state government.
"SP government did not waive off loans and did not give adequate compensation for crop loss due to natural factors," he said.
(Ashish Mishra can be contacted at ashish.m@ians.in)
