Stray animals roaming on roads are giving the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party a tough time at Hamirpur where bypoll to Sadar Assembly seat is to be held this month.
Though the state government has set up ‘gaushalas’ (cow sheds) in each district, including the Bundelkhand region, farmers are facing the menace of stray cattle. An estimated 20,000 cows are roaming in Hamirpur alone.
Bharatiya Janata Party candidate for the bypoll, Yuvraj Singh, is facing a tough time in pacifying voters, especially farmers, who are up in arms against the government as the standing crops were destroyed by stray cattle.
The BJP candidate is banking on the images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and also the welfare schemes implemented by the state government in the last 30 months of BJP rule in the state. Singh is also highlighting the abrogation of Article 370 and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and other welfare schemes, but is caught on the back foot whenever the issue of stray animals is raised.
Voters are irked over the menace of strays and lack of measures in stopping their free run which caused loss of crops in several villages. In Hamirpur Sadar constituency, there are about 170 ‘gaushalas.’
On the other hand, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Congress are stoking public anger over the stray animals issue. Voters are not very vocal about stray cattle but they maintain that whoever redresses their problems would get their votes.
Due to the stray cattle menace, voters in Kishwahi village have decided to boycott the bypoll. The common refrain is that apart from the issue of stray animals, no bridge was built on Ken river flowing alongside the village due to which people face problems in reaching Hamirpur.