The Hindu : Joshi seeks record fourth term from Allahabad

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 30, 2004

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Joshi seeks record fourth term from Allahabad

ALLAHABAD, MARCH 29. The Union Human Resource Development Minister and senior BJP leader, Murli Manohar Joshi, is seeking a mandate for the record fourth consecutive term from Allahabad parliamentary constituency, even as other political parties are still in the process of finalising their candidates for the three Lok Sabha constituencies in the district.

While Joshi's candidature from the prestigious Allahabad seat has been a foregone conclusion in view of his stature in the BJP, the Samajwadi Party has roped in its senior leader and Transport Minister, Reoti Raman Singh, yet again to wrest the seat from Joshi.

The BSP, an erstwhile coalition partner of BJP in Uttar Pradesh and at the Centre till last year, has pitched in an influential backward caste leader and ex-Minister in Mayawati Government, R.K. Singh Patel, against both Joshi and Singh. Patel, who has a cushion of an estimated 15 to 20 per cent dalit votes, the traditional vote bank of the BSP, would seek to add the votes of his Kurmi caste to tilt the scale in his favour at the hustings.

With the BJP, SP and BSP trying to figure out their prospects from the Allahabad seat in the wake of announcing of the names of candidates, the Congress whose pocket-boroughs these constituencies were till two decades ago has seemingly lost out to its political rivals in terms of electoral fortune and is even facing difficulty in selecting the candidates.

Congress' woes has been further compounded by the festering bickering among the local leaders and the rank and file who owe allegiance more to their mentors at the local level than to the party.

In the given political scenario, the Congress may field a high profile candidate for the Allahabad seat from outside and thus, the speculation that film actress Mausami Chatterjee could be pitted against Joshi could not be entirely ruled out.

The Congress is faced with similar dilemma in adjoining Phulpur and Chail constituencies, in announcing the names of its candidates.

In Phulpur parliamentary constituency, the SP, which had won the seat in 1999, dropped its sitting MP Dharamraj Singh Patel following voices of dissatisfaction against him in a section of the party cadres and replaced him with the controversial legislator Atiq Ahmad.

Patel, picked as a surprise candidate by SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav after dropping the then sitting MP Jang Bahadur Patel, now with BJP, has fallen from grace in a similar manner

Ahmed, who has been an influential Muslim leader in the region for decades, would be a front runner in the constituency dominated by the other backward castes like Yadav and Kurmi, besides a sizeable Muslim population.

The BSP is looking for a suitable candidate from the backward castes to counter the SP move, even as the BJP has pitted its old and trusted face Beni Madhav Bind. Bind, who lost the 1998 and 1999 Lok Sabha elections from Phulpur seat, may hope that it could be third-time lucky for him in the wake of sharp polarisation of voters on the caste lines in this constituency.

Apart from the contenders of the mainstream political parties, a fringe outfit Apna Dal would also test its electoral fortunes with the party president Sone Lal Patel deciding to contest the elections from Phulpur against his one-time colleague, Atiq Ahmad.

The Chail preliamentary constituency, a BSP bastion in recent years, is likely to witness an interesting tussle among the BSP candidate Vachaspati, Amrit Lal Bharatiya (BJP) and Shalendra Kumar (SP) even as the Congress has yet to decide its candidate on the reserved seat.

The BSP's confidence to retain the seat could be gauged from the fact that the party dropped its sitting MP Suresh Pasi and nominated Vachaspati because of the dissent against the sitting MP at the local level. -- PTI

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Joshi seeks record fourth term from Allahabad