{"id":44096,"date":"2018-05-28T15:23:04","date_gmt":"2018-05-28T09:53:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/?p=44096"},"modified":"2018-05-28T15:23:27","modified_gmt":"2018-05-28T09:53:27","slug":"winning-kairana-is-a-prestige-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/special-tv-shows\/apn-mudda-show\/winning-kairana-is-a-prestige-issue\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWinning Kairana is a prestige issue\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mudda panellists feel that BJP has been trying hard to retain turf in this communal strife-ridden Lok Sabha seat, but only results will show where it stands<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Bypolls are being held in four Lok Sabha and 10 assembly seats across the country, days after a buoyant victory for a joint opposition alliance in Karnataka.\u00a0The\u00a0SP, Mayawati and the Congress are supporting the candidate of Ajit Singh (Rashtriya Lok Dal) in the politically important Kairana LS seat.\u00a0APN<\/em>\u2019s popular debate\u00a0Mudda<\/em>\u00a0discussed the issue with panelists including RLD\u2019s Arif Mohammad, Congress\u2019s Omkar Nath Singh, SP\u2019s Manoj Yadav, BJP\u2019s Bhaskar Ghosh, noted scribe Haseeb Siddiqui, and\u00a0APN<\/em>\u00a0consultant Govind Pant Raju.<\/p>\n

Anchorperson Anant Tyagi posed the first question to Yadav who said that the opposition is united and the winning margins will be great. \u201cWe will win Nurpur seat by one lakh votes,\u201d he said, adding that EVM<\/a> snags have been discovered at various places.<\/p>\n

Ghosh said:\u201dPeople know that JD-S and Congress were at loggerheads before they came together in Karnataka. In Meghalaya 63.5 percent voting has already happened. How come BJP is responsible for EVM snags, as people are claiming?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

Yadav said: \u201cThe BJP has the habit of saying that \u2018wrong\u2019 is \u2018right\u2019. The BJP leaders are running away from their responsibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Siddiqui said: \u201cThe PM himself considers these elections as important, and has been finding time to campaign, and meet people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raju said: \u201cIt\u2019s a test for the RLD. If it wins, it will have a significant say in national politics. SP gave up a seat for RLD, so in that sense the opposition is together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arif Mohammad said: \u201cRLD is winning this poll in Kairana, the BJP is all out to finish RLD and is claiming that EVMs are not working there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manoj Yadav said: \u201cKairana is a test for opposition unity. This is why the PM was also there. But we are doing politics of development, not of friction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Siddiqui pointed out: \u201cAkhilesh did not go to polling sites, especially since the Muzaffarnagar riots happened in 2013 during the time he was CM.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arif Mohammad said: \u201cIt is not that Akhilesh was told to stay away due to the Muslim backlash.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ghosh said: \u201cThe PM\u2019s visits have been official. It is not that the PM has been terrified of the poll results and that is why he went for campaigning there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raju said: \u201cThe way PM raised certain issues\u00a0\u00a0(like the GST issue, sugarcane and farmer issues that are important in Khairana), before the polling, was significant, but it is to be seen if that has helped BJP or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ghosh said:\u201dIn Karnataka, Congress and JD-S came together to make the government. That\u2019s a pact of convenience; it should have been done before the polls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Siddiqui said: \u201cIn Kariana, national issues are more important because it is a LS seat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yadav said: \u201cIn Kairana, a prestige seat, we did two rallies and came to know that we were on a winning ground.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Raju said: \u201cThe Karnataka pact has shown that an alternative front can be orgainsed in the coming days. These polls will show which way the wind is blowing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014Compiled by Niti Singh Bhandari<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"