BSP ignores internal tiff, bets on Nakul in Sitapur

Lucknow: Bahujan Samaj Party has bet on former state minister Nakul Dubey in the high-stake election in Sitapur. Dubey, however, has not only met with protests from the local BSP unit in Sitapur but is also up against a former colleague, Kaiser Jahan, who has been fielded by Congress.
In its third list of candidates released on Tuesday, BSP announced five tickets covering the fifth phase of elections.Besides Dubey, the party has fielded another former minister Chandradev Ram Yadav from Kaiserganj and two-time MLA Sukhdev Prasad from Fatehpur.
The party has named Arshad Ahmed Siddiqui as its candidate for another high-profile contest. He will face Congress’s Jitin Prasada, a former Union minister, in Dhauraha. Siddiqui is the son of two-time BSP MP Ilyas Azmi, who had left BSP for Aam Aadmi Party but later resigned from there as well. At present, he is busy campaigning for his son. “Siddiqui has huge business interests in Mumbai, where he is based. However, his link to Dhauraha is very strong due to his family connections,” said a BSP member.
Nakul Dubey’s last visit to Sitapur to attend an election meeting along with members from alliance partner Samajwadi Party, turned violent as his supporters and local party workers came to blows. The local unit was protesting against a “parachute candidate”, saying that Dubey belonged to Lucknow and would not do well in Sitapur. His opponent Kaiser Jahan was expelled from BSP in 2018 for alleged anti-party activities. Both Jahan and her husband Jasmir Ansari have successfully contested assembly elections as BSP candidates.
Chandradev Ram Yadav was sacked by Mayawati as minister in 2012 after being indicted by then Lokayukta on charges of corruption and disproportionate wealth. Sukhdev Prasad had been an MLA from Bindki assembly seat in Fatehpur twice, in 2007 and 2012. In the 2017 elections, Prasad stood third, behind BJP and SP.
CL Verma will be the party’s candidate from Mohanlalganj.