Political mercury rises in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh

Lucknow/Aligarh/Gorakhpur, Jan 20 (ANI): With Uttar Pradesh assembly elections right around the corner, the political mercury has soared across the state, as parties and leaders engage in a war of words on a range of issues.

The polls are being viewed as an opportunity for major parties to re-establish or strengthen their footholds in the country's fifth largest and most populous state.n the fray are the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP).

Taking a dig at the BJP, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh slammed the opposition over its decision to give a ticket to senior party leader Uma Bharti-a firebrand politician from Madhya Pradesh.

"The complete hollowness in the leadership of BJP is evident in the fact that they could not find any leader who could lead the party in Uttar Pradesh. That is why, the BJP had to borrow a leader from Madhya Pradesh," Digvijay Singh told media.

Training guns at the party's principle political rivals, general secretary of Rashtriya Lok Dal-which recently joined hands with the Congress-Jayant Chaudhary asserted that the RLD-Congress tie-up was a viable political alternative for the people of Uttar Pradesh.

"The cycle (the political symbol of Samajwadi Party) has always splashed mud all over. So, they will also get stuck in the same quagmire. See, the thing is that the ultimately, people will decide. We can say all we want, but the power lies with the people. Our appeal to the masses is that if they chose candidates from the RLD-Congress alliance, they will find a new way. Otherwise, the same government will be formed that have always been in power earlier in Uttar Pradesh," Chaudhary told media in Aligarh.

Flexing political muscle, senior BJP leader Kalraj Mishra exuded confidence that his party would emerge as the game-changer in the polls.

"I can say that the BJP is the only political party that has granted tickets to the candidates keeping in mind the importance of all castes and communities of Uttar Pradesh. On this basis, we have been able to give adequate representation to members of all communities, and so we will be able to get votes from all sections of the society. In the coming future, we will form an absolute majority in Uttar Pradesh," Mishra told media in Gorakhpur.

Polls in Uttar Pradesh are to be conducted in seven phases between February 8 and March 3. The counting of votes would take place on March 6.

Uttar Pradesh will elect a new 403-member state assembly in March, and the poll results are expected to broadly indicate trends for the 2014 general elections. (ANI)