Cong edgy in UP, seat swap worries up

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, March 25

A late starter on the Uttar Pradesh election scene, the Congress appears to be on the edge in the country’s largest state with change of seats by senior leaders and anxieties around potential defections spooling the pre-poll optics.First it was UP Congress president Raj Babbar who changed his seat from

the previously announced Moradabad to Fatehpur Sikri. Today another senior Congressman and party’s former spokesperson Rashid Alvi was dropped as a candidate from Amroha. A younger nominee Sachin Choudhry was named in Alvi’s place.Alvi is learnt to have buckled under the pressure exerted by the SP-BSP alliance which fielded former JD(S) general secretary Danish Ali from Amroha. Ali joined the BSP recently to get a nomination from the segment, prompting Rashid Alvi to drop out of the race.

In Moradabad, which Raj Babbar first got, the party media panellist Meem Afzal had been working for over two years but was denied ticket which eventually didn’t even go to Babbar. Anxieties around the plans of former Dhaurahra MP and former minister Jitin Prasad also continue with lack of clarity around what he wants.

Prasad was a few days ago rumoured to be considering joining the BJP, but the Congress managed to stop him. He lost the last Lok Sabha election from this seat and later also lost the Assembly polls.

It’s learnt that he was keen to contest from Lakhimpur Khiri this time but that ticket went to a senior Muslim leader of the area. Prasad was nominated from Dhaurahra and was upset about it.

There is talk in the Congress now on possibilities of considering Prasad against BJP’s Rajnath Singh in Lucknow. There is also lack of clarity on how the Congress alliance with Apna Dal (Krishna Patel) faction is progressing. Soon after allying with the Congress a while ago, Krishna Patel backed the Shivpal Yadav faction of Samajwadi Party leading to confusion in party ranks.

In east UP, where AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi just concluded a boat ride, Congress workers are upset at the news that the party was striking an understanding with a little-known Jan Adhikar Party.

“No one has heard of this party and the Congress is reaching an understanding with them? What kind of politics is this?” asks Manish Upadhyay, former general secretary of UP Youth Congress who is a ticket seeker from one of the seats which may go to the quota of smaller parties the Congress is seeking out this time.

Meanwhile, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will visit Ayodhya on March 27 carrying forward the party’s soft Hindutva line. She is expected to visit the Hanumangarhi temple and later tour Amethi, Rae Bareli, Barabanki also.

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