Congress Muslim candidates upset SP-BSP-RLD alliance

LUCKNOW : Congress fielding Muslim candidates in at least seven seats in UP with significant Muslim votes has upset the BSP-SP-RLD alliance. These parties have alleged that even as Congress claims to be against BJP, its only agenda seems to be to derail the alliance’s election.
Out of the seven seats, Congress is hopeful of doing well in at least two — Saharanpur and Kheri.However, the more contentious of the seats include Badaun where Congress’s Salim Shervani is pitted against SP chief Akhilesh Yadav’s cousin Dharmendra Yadav. Badaun has around 18 lakh voters out of which around 15% are Muslims and 30% Yadavs, claim parties. Sources said BJP will gain if two strong candidates are pitted against each other and Muslims drift towards the Congress.


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Naseemuddin Siddiqui, former BSP member and close aide of Mayawati , is being seen as the other spoiler. He moved to Congress in 2018 and is contesting from Bijnor, where BSP has fielded Malook Nagar, a Gujjar. Reports suggest that 30% Muslim voters in this constituency will lead to a vote split. In Sitapur, Congress has fielded former BSP leader Kaiser Jahan. This seat is with BSP which has so far not announced its candidate. SP sources said other than some Congress candidates, who had an individual presence, Congress did not have a base in any of these constituencies. They claimed that fielding Muslim candidates on specific seats seemed like an attempt to damage the alliance election, since soon after that they spread information that Congress would leave seven seats for the alliance but did not include seats important to the alliance in these.
“If Congress was so serious, why did it not leave Badaun seat? Finally none of this is going to impact the alliance but it creates bad blood unnecessarily,” said party sources. A senior member added that Congress seemed to be upset that “regional parties like ours did not include them in the alliance” and announced candidates in a way to damage the alliance election. SP spokesperson Uday Veer Singh added: “Party chief Akhilesh Yadav is interested in ensuring social justice and defeating BJP but Congress seems more concerned about building its organization in UP.”
While BSP member Lalji Verma said such attempts by Congress were not going to make any dent in alliance votes, sources in party said Congress wanted to finish off regional parties and whatever its stated position was, it would allow BJP to win where it was not winning.