FARRUKHABAD, May 28: ``Main aapse appeal karti hoon ki aap 29 tarikh ko kamal ke nishan par mohar lagayen (I implore you to put the stamp on the BJP's election symbol during the by-election on May 29).'' It's campaign time, and Mayawati is at her canvassing best, only this time for some other party candidate.Voters may find it a bit disconcerting, but not the Chief Minister and BSP vice-president. The BJP and her party have taken their new-found bonhomie to the election field, putting up a joint candidate, Prabha Dwivedi, in the Farrukhabad assembly by-poll.On the other side is another consensus nominee, Lal Bahadur Singh Shakya, jointly sponsored by the United Front and the Congress.The BJP-BSP tie-up is doing its best to ensure a victory for Prabha, widow of the BJP leader Brahma Dutt Dwivedi, who was brutally assassinated three months ago. She is now the Labour Minister in Mayawati's Cabinet.However, any sympathy for Prabha has largely been overshadowed by caste equations, as is clear during the campaign trail. If Mayawati's appeals are drawing in the crowds, so are Mulayam Singh Yadav's speeches.Caste plays a crucial factor in this constituency. The upper caste voters, who form a major chunk of the BJP's electorate, dominate. The saffron brigade also banks upon Lodhs, a backward caste, while the SP counts on Muslims, Yadavs and Kurmis. Most of the Dalits and Backwards support the BSP.Despite this apparent advantage, the BJP's chances are not considered too bright. The terror unleashed by the late Dwivedi had left the region's Rajputs disenchanted. The Lodhs are also disgruntled as their leaders like ex-MLA Urmila Rajput and BJP MP Swami Sachchidanand Sakshi have been accused in Dwivedi murder case.The BJP has responded by pressing into service a battery of Rajput leaders, including state party president Raj Nath Singh, and Lodh leader and former chief minister Kalyan Singh. But the party knows that the factor which might tilt the balance in its favour is the BSP backing.For their part, the BSP leaders have responded enthusiastically to Mayawati's call for support to Prabha. The Chief Minister has exhorted them to ``repay the debt'' of Dwivedi, who had ``saved my life'' during the guest house incident.The other factor motivating the BSP is the presence of its bete noire, the SP. Mayawati has herself called upon party workers to ``teach a lesson to SP goons'' by voting them out.
