Kanpur sees local versus outsider contest in polls

Kanpur: The saffron wave has been riding high since the last two terms in Kanpur, the city whose commercial existence is alive from the British era till date. It is witnessing a local versus outsider contest in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
While the BJP has reposed its trust in Farrukhabad native Ramesh Awasthi, INDIA Bloc this time has bet on Alok Misra, a local face.However, the history of previous 17 General Elections points to the fact that only three outsiders had got an opportunity to represent Kanpur in the Lok Sabha, and they were SM Bannerjee, Mohammad Arif Khan and Murli Manohar Joshi.
The longest term was that of SM Bannerjee, a trade union leader from Kolkata (Calcutta), who contested as an independent candidate and represented the City from 1957 to 1977. Mohammad Arif Khan, a native of Bulandshahr, was a Congress candidate who was elected in 1980 when the country was in the grip of Congress wave. After that in 2014, during the Modi wave, BJP tried its luck on an outsider and the party's veteran leader Murli Manohar Joshi who was from Prayagraj won the seat.
“You can see that till 17 Lok Sabha, an outsider has won only three times, and it is clearly visible from the figures that locals have dominated the Kanpur seat,” said INDIA Alliance candidate Alok Misra. “Kanpur's voters are prepared to send a local candidate to Lok Sabha this time too,” he added.
Citing the example of Prime Minister -Narendra Modi, the BJP candidate Ramesh Awasthi meanwhile denied the issue of local versus outsider. “See how the people of Varanasi have embraced Narendra Modi who belongs to Gujarat. Now what will you say on this. It should also be remembered that the spell of Congress Party in Kanpur was broken by an outsider and the BJP's veteran leader Murli Manohar Joshi, who did not allow Congress Party's hat-trick hitter Shriprakash Jaiswal to reach Lok Sabha in 2014,” Awasthi said.
Even though Ramesh Awasthi is not being considered as a familiar political face for the Kanpurites before getting the ticket from Kanpur Lok Sabha seat, he started his political career as a student union leader. In the 1990s, he was elected as a student union president of Badri Vishal Degree College, Farrukhabad. On the other hand, after almost 28 years, Congress is betting on a Brahmin face. Alok Misra who contested the Assembly elections twice before had to face defeat both times. For the first time he contested from Kalyanpur Assembly seat in 2002 but lost. After this, he again unsuccessfully contested from Kalyanpur seat in 2007. Bahujan Samaj Party has fielded young Kuldeep Bhadauria a native of Bithoor. He has studied law and is an advocate by profession. He has also been the general secretary of DAV College Students Union. He has been in BSP for the last two years.