<b>Periscope:</b> BJP sweats it out in the hills

The BJP is working overtime to make the meeting in Haridwar on February 10 a success

BJP sweats it out in the hills 

As elections are due in Uttarakhand next week, campaigning is picking up. Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah will be in the hill state all week. On February 9, he will be at New Tehri, Bageshwar and Kashipur and on February 12 at Gangotri, Kotdwar and Champawat. Shah's itinerary reveals the BJP's strategy to woo voters in the hills. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also expected to campaign in Uttarakhand this week. Modi is expected to address a massive meeting in Haridwar on February 10. The BJP is working overtime to make this meeting a success.

Gearing for UP polls 

On Saturday, western Uttar Pradesh, which includes the riot-hit constituencies of Muzaffarnagar and Shamli, will go to polls in the first phase of the 2017 Assembly elections. Previously, constituencies in the eastern part of the state used to go to polls in the first phase.

The last time western UP voted first was during the 2014 General Elections. The BJP had then swept the Lok Sabha elections in the state, winning 71 of 80 seats.

The election will be a test by fire for Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati, as it will decide if her Dalit-Muslim combine plank is tenable in a region where the party remained a strong player until 2014. They will decide if she has been able to keep her Dalit support base intact. The Samajwadi Party has gone through a spell of turmoil given the tension between father Mulayam Singh Yadav and son Akhilesh, who has joined hands with the Congress.  The SP will face the test of loyalty of its Muslim supporters at a time when the party has chosen Akhilesh as its leader. The SP’s strongholds of eastern UP and central UP will go for polls in later phases.

This is a traditional region of Jat supremacy and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) will fight vigorously to keep its legacy bequeathed to it by Charan Singh, the legendary farmer leader from this area. RLD is not part of any alliance. The Muslim-dominated region could also give a hint of any possible impact that All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen and its leader, Asaduddin Owaisi.

The first phase of the 2012 assembly elections included the districts of Terai and eastern UP, Sitapur, Bahraich, Gonda, Siddharthnagar, Shravasti, Basti, Faizabad, Balrampur and Ambedkar Nagar, all of which were nearly swept by the SP, giving it a much needed boost in the start of the campaign. What will be the trend this time?

Mulayam dilemma not over yet  

Mulayam Singh Yadav will begin his election campaign on Thursday from the Jaswantsinghnagar constituency where Shivpal Yadav is the Samajwadi Party candidate. He has announced that he will campaign for Akhilesh later, a tacit admission that there is now a split in the SP even though it remains one party. What will the father say — about his son in his brother’s constituency? Look out for Yadav’s speech.