Rumblings of discontent are growing louder in the UP Congress over the names 135 candidates that have been announced for the state Assembly elections.
Party cadres are upset over the fact that the party leadership has ignored the
loyalty factor and has given preference to over two dozen turncoats who have just come in from other parties. Moreover, a number of those who have lost a series of elections, have also been nominated as party candidates.
“We had been told that tickets will be given only to those who have been in the party for a minimum of three years but the list shows that those who have not even formally quit other parties have been given tickets. For instance, BJP MLA Sukhlal has been named Congress candidate from Puranpur. Sukhlal was suspended from the BJP on Friday after the list was released,” said an aspirant from Pilibhit.
Other new entrants who have been given tickets include Arvind Giri from Gola Gokaranath. Giri, who belonged to the Samajwadi Party, joined the Congress a few months ago. Former Samajwadi MLA Urmila Singh, also a relative of Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, is now the Congress candidate from Karhal in Mainpuri. Other SP leaders who recently joined the Congress and have been given tickets are Mithilesh Yadav (Jasrana), Begum Ishrat Rasool (Sandila), Ashok Singh Baby (Bangramau) and Mathura Prasad Pal from Akbarpur Raniya. Rakesh Varma, son of Union minister Beni Prasad Varma, is also a former Samajwadi minister and he will contest the Dariabad seat on a Congress ticket.
Former BSP MLA Maya Prasad is the party nominee from Srinagar in Lakhimpur. Other BSP leaders in the Congress list include Hulasiram rajpur (Meerganj), Virendra Choudhury (Pharenda), Talat Aziz (Paniara) and Raj Narain Paswan (Khajni). Another former BSP leader, Keshav Babu Shivhare, will represent the Congress on the Hamirpur seat.
Arimardan Singh, who recently left the BJP, has been named as candidate for the Mahoba seat while. Bhagwan Singh Shakya (Shekhupur) and Vinod Tiwari (Palia) also came in from BJP to get nominated as Congress candidates.
Sunita Kovid Singh, wife of former BJP MLA is the Congress nominee from Tilhar.
Besides, the Congress — contrary to the earlier assertion that frequent losers would not be given tickets — has nominated candidates who have lost a series of elections. These include V.M. Singh in Pilibhit and Talat Aziz in Gorakhpur.
“It is clear that winnability has not been the determining factor and neither has loyalty paid dividends. In such a situation if the party cadres decide to sit back during elections, why blame them,” said a former UPCC president.