UP poll: No love lost between political rivals on Valentine's Day

Politicking for phase II polling witnessed top mascots of BJP, SP, BSP, Cong upping the ante

Even as the Valentine's Day falls today, there is apparently no love lost between the top leaders of major political parties as they crisscross poll bound Uttar Pradesh addressing public meetings and unleashing vitriolic attack on opponents.

The canvassing for the second phase of polling in 67 assembly constituencies across 11 largely western UP districts had come to an end on Monday evening with voting scheduled for Wednesday. The districts going to polls on February 15 include Saharanpur, Bijnore, Moradabad, Rampur, Sambhal, Bareilly, Amroha, Pilibhit, Kheri, Shahjahanpur and Badaun.

The politicking for the phase II polling nonetheless witnessed top mascots of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Congress upping the ante to corner their opponents with a view to consolidating their core vote banks.

Senior political leaders who addressed rallies on Monday across UP, included Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President Amit Shah, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, BSP President Mayawati, SP President and UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav.

While, Modi and Rahul addressed well attended public meetings in Kheri, Mayawati and Akhilesh were the star campaigners and speakers at election rallies in Etawah and Badaun districts respectively.

Other prominent political figures who also addressed public meetings in the state comprised SP leader Shivpal Singh Yadav, All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) President Aasaduddin Owaisi and BJP Member of Parliament (MP) from Gorakhpur Mahant Adiyanath.

About 22.8 million electorates are eligible to cast their vote in phase II and some of the known electoral figures seeking election therein include state Cabinet Minister Mohd Azam Khan, his son Abdullah Azam, Nawab Kazim Ali, Imran Masood, Jitin Prasad, Suresh Khanna etc.

Meanwhile, BJP has unveiled its battery of senior leaders and Union Ministers to talk to the media and hold meetings with different segments of voters on a regular basis. In this regard, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Arun Jaitely were camping in town.