Turncoats bite the dust before Uttar Pradesh assembly polls

MEERUT: Disappointment was writ large on the face of Masood Akhtar, brother of Imran Masood who recently quit the Congress and joined Samajwadi Party.
The Masood brothers’ hope to get a ticket from a 'better performing party' were dashed as Imran’s name did not figure in the SP-RLD list of candidates. The Masood family is not the lone case as several turncoats failed to change their fate by switching parties.
“We have been told that they will take care of us. Akhilesh ji had called us twice and assured us of a party ticket. We were waiting at the SP office on Sunday when we learnt that Behat and Saharanpur Dehat’s candidates had been announced,” said Akhtar, who had released a video on Monday in which he said that he would continue fighting for people even “if we are not MLAs”.
Pointing out that “these things happen in politics”, he said he would contest the elections “if people wish and the polls will be fought under the leadership of Imran Masood”.
Likewise, Muslim leader and former legislator and former MP from BSP Qadir Rana who expected a ticket from Muzaffarnagar after joining the SP last year, was left high and dry. Rana was camping in Lucknow for over a week till Monday and returned home after the SP chief Akhilesh Yadav declared all the candidates from Muzaffarnagar, giving a fair share of seats to the RLD but no ticket to Rana.
“I don’t want to comment on the matter,” Rana told TOI. He will not be in the poll fray for the first time in three decades. His attempt to get a ticket for a relative also failed.
BJP’s Guddu Pandit aka Bhagwan Sharma failed to get a ticket after joining the RLD. He was a two-time MLA from Dibai constituency of Bulandshahr. His brother, Mukesh Sharma, also an MLA, did not find a slot in the list the RLD-SP list for Bulandshahr seats.
Some SP leaders like former MLA Abdul Rao Waris from Shamli was not given a ticket by SP this time as the seat he used to contest from was given the RLD.
Similarly, Meerut’s senior BSP leader and former MLA Haji Yaqub Qureshi who joined hands with Akhilesh to “change the government” failed to change his own fortune.