Lok Sabha elections: Congress’ Annu denies any tacit pact with SP in Unnao

UNNAO: Priyanka Gandhi on Saturday dashed to Unnao Lok Sabha, on the cusp of Awadh-Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh, making her third visit to this part as she campaigned for candidate Annu Tandon, with 48 hours left for the fourth phase of Lok Sabha polls.
As the Congress general secretary drove with Tandon, the petite Congress candidate believes that her prospects have only been fortified.But she is quick to dismiss the speculations that Samajwadi Party has given a safe passage her when they withdrew their first candidate Pooja Pal, from significant OBC community and replaced her with Anna Maharaj, a Brahmin.
“I wish there was an understanding with SP. There is none. And in that case I would have probably got more. Pooja Pal was a good candidate but she had a technical issue.,” Tandon tells TOI at her home as she rules out any arrangement with SP.
“Priyanka ji coming here is a strong indication to all parties that we are on a strong footing,” she adds.
The former MP, whose husband Sandeep, before his death worked as a top Indian Revenue Service (IRS) official in Enforcement Direcotrate (ED), shrugs off queries on their elite status while listing her priorities on addresing rural distress, education and health facilities in Unnao.
“There are many English speaking people in Unnao. Expectations from people are not like while treating me as a potlician. They treat me as their family member. I did my graduation here,” she says, joined by her sister Mili Mehra and sister-in-law Kumkum Sharma on her two sides, with her two sons Sachin and Shalin bringing the list of pending meetings.
“Any woman misses her husband. He was more of a friend to me. If you talk about my family, they have just come now, my real family is my voters behind me,” she adds.
Though her supporters claim her trust Hriday Narain Dhawan Charitable Trust has done significant, the BJP believes that caste factor is still in favour of BJP’s Sakshi Mahraj, the OBC candidate who had publically written a letter explaining the caste arithmetic to the saffron party.
WIth nearly two lakh votes of Lodhi community OBCs, followed by equal number of Muslims and OBC Pal community, and around 80,000 Brahmins,many llocals feel that the fight is largely between BJP and Congress.
Tandon, though believes that there are other seats as well in the neighbourhood, where Congress can make big strides.“There is Mirzapur, Farrukhabad, Barabanki, and so on,” she says as she leaves for a quick bite following roadshow on the last day of campaign.