A clever bit of social engineering, turncoats and family affiliations seem to have influenced candidate selection in the BJP, which timed the release of its second list for Uttar Pradesh along with the SP-Congress alliance announcement on Sunday evening.

The BJP has so far announced 304 candidates out of the total 403 in UP. In the second list of 155 candidates, the party has paid heed to its upper caste support base and fielded 31 Brahmins and 29 Thakurs besides laying stress on non-Yadav OBCs such as Kushwahas, Kurmis as well as some Dalits.

The party’s social engineering has meant an alliance with Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP), a small party led by the Rajbhar community that constitutes about 18 per cent of the population in eastern UP. SBSP president Om Prakash Rajbhar claimed on Monday that he has been allocated eight seats.

The BJP has also included about 40 “outsiders” in its latest list of 155 candidates besides sons, daughters and daughters-in-law of prominent leaders.

Besides the much-talked about inclusion of Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s son Pankaj as a candidate from Noida, the BJP has put up Prateek Bhushan, the son of strongman and party MP from Kaisergunj, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, from Gonda Sadar.

The son of Moradabad MP Kunwar Sarvesh Singh, Sushant Singh, has been fielded from Badhapur. Former BSP leader Swami Prasad Maurya had been sulking for a while over his loyalists not being “accommodated”.

Now, his son Utkrisht Maurya has been given the Unchahar seat in eastern UP. Party MP Hukum Singh’s daughter Mriganka Singh has been fielded from Kairana in western UP. Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh’s son Rajveer Singh is already an MP. His grandson Sandeep Singh was given a ticket in the BJP’s first list, from Atrauli constituency.

In the latest list, his daughter-in-law Premlata too has been given a party ticket. Party heavyweight Lalji Tandon’s son Gopalji Tandon is part of the BJP’s latest list of candidates. The wife of BJP MP from Mohanlalgunj Kaushal Kishore, Jaidevi, has been fielded from Mallihabad.

Moreover, protests by in-house workers notwithstanding, the BJP has fielded over 40 candidates who have crossed over from other parties like the SP, BSP and Congress.

Among them are former SP MLA Sherbahadur Singh’s son Rajesh; former Minister and BSP leader Nand Gopal Nandi from Allahabad (South); former BSP leader Brajesh Pathak from Lucknow (Central); and Congress import Rita Bahuguna Joshi from Lucknow (Cantonment). The last is one of the high-profile contests, where Joshi will fight SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav’s second son Prateek Yadav’s wife Aparna Yadav.

Congress leader Ramlal Rahi’s son Suresh Rahi and the SP’s women’s wing president Ranjana Vajpayee’s son Harsh Vajpayee have also been given BJP tickets.

Another interesting contest will be in Amethi, where the BJP has fielded Congress Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh’s first wife Garima Singh.

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