SP battles confusion in ranks over candidates as leaders sulk
Earlier, Yadav had denied the ticket to sitting MP of Moradabad, Hasan, to announce the candidature of Ruchi Veera.
With a day left for nominations to close for the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections, the Samajwadi Party (SP) is battling confusion over selection of some candidates even as sulking leaders, who have been denied tickets, are adding to the party’s woes.
On Wednesday, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav’s supposed letter dated March 27, the last day of first phase nominations, went viral on social media, wherein he purportedly informed the returning officer of the Moradabad Lok Sabha seat that the party has invalidated the Form-B issued to its official candidate Ruchi Veera and sitting MP ST Hasan will be the party’s authorized nominee.
Earlier, Yadav had denied the ticket to Hasan to announce the candidature of Ruchi Veera. Hasan’s supporters took to streets to oppose campaigning by Ruchi Veera, leading to a tussle among SP workers in the constituency
Hasan claimed SP chief wanted him to contest the Lok Sabha election and had sent a letter to the returning officer for cancellation of Ruchi Veera’s nomination as the SP official candidate. But by the time the letter was delivered to the returning officer, the time for the withdrawal of nominations had passed, Hasan added.
Under whose pressure Akhilesh Yadav had made Ruchi Veera the party candidate earlier, only he can explain, Hasan said, adding a conspiracy was hatched to deny him the SP ticket.
In the neighbouring Rampur Lok Sabha constituency, jailed veteran SP leader Azam Khan’s supporter are unhappy after the party fielded Maulana Mohibullah Nadvi, Imam of the Parliament Street mosque in Delhi. Khan’s supporters had demanded that someone from the Yadav family or Akhilesh Yadav himself should contest the seat that has been the stronghold of Azam Khan, a 10-time former MLA and an ex-MP from Rampur.
At one stage, Akhilesh decided to field Tej Pratap Yadav from the seat but when Khan’s supporters threatened to boycott the election unless Akhilesh contested the seat, the SP chief decided to nip the rebellion in the bud by fielding Nadvi. The nomination of Mohammad Asim Raza, a protege of Khan, was rejected.
On yet another seat, Budaun, there is confusion over whether Akhilesh Yadav’s uncle and SP national general secretary Shivpal Yadav will contest or his son Aditya Yadav will take the plunge instead.
On Tuesday, Shivpal had said a party workers’ conference had passed the proposal in support of Aditya and it will be sent to the national leadership...The national leadership is likely to give its nod, he had said.
On Wednesday, Aditya Yadav made it clear that there was pressure on the party leadership for his candidature and he will abide by the party’s orders. Aditya inaugurated the party campaign office and also attended a joint meeting of the SP and Congress workers in the constituency on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the SP on Wednesday replaced party candidate Manoj Chaudhary with former MLA Amarpal Singh in the Baghpat Lok Sabha constituency. Earlier, SP had replaced its Meerut Lok Sabha candidate Bhanu Pratap Singh with Sardhana MLA Atul Pradhan.