Maya throws down challenge to Congress, fields a Yadav from Gandhi bastion

LUCKNOW: The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has fielded an OBC candidate from the Yadav community, Thakur Prasad Yadav, from the Gandhi family bastion Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituency.

BSP chief Mayawati plans to challenge the might of the Congress with a Dalit-OBC alliance. There are around 27% Dalit and 12% Yadav community voters in the constituency. Though the BSP does not have a strong support base in Rae Bareli, it could dent into the Congress’s support base with its caste alliance. In the 2009 Lok Sabha election, the BSP candidate RS Kushwaha was the runner-up, whereas Congress candidate Sonia Gandhi won the seat.

BSP candidate Thakur Prasad Yadav contested the 2017 and 2022 assembly elections from the Sareni seat located in Rae Bareli. Yadav was the runner-up in the 2017 assembly election, whereas he was pushed to the fourth position in the 2022 assembly election, with SP candidate Devendra Pratap Singh winning the seat.

The Congress as well as the Bharatiya Janata Party are yet to announce their candidates from the Rae Bareli, which will be going to poll in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha election. The filing of nominations for the Rae Bareli seat will commence from Friday (April 26).

There is speculation in the political circle that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will contest from the constituency that her mother, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, represented between 2004 and 2024. Sonia Gandhi has been elected to the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan.

The BJP has also not announced a candidate from the seat that has been won by the Congress in successive Lok Sabha elections held since 1999. Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi won from the seat in the 1967, 1971, and 1980 Lok Sabha elections. Congress leaders close to the Gandhi family, such as Arun Nehru, Shiela Kaul, and Satish Sharma, have also won the Lok Sabha election on Congress tickets from Rae Bareli.

In the BJP camp, there is speculation that Varun Gandhi, the sitting MP from the Pilibhit Lok Sabha seat who was denied a ticket from his family’s borough Pilibhit, might be fielded from Rae Bareli. The names of BJP leader Nupur Sharma and BJP MLA from the Rae Bareli seat, Aditi Singh, are also circulating.

A BSP leader said the party had taken the lead over rival parties BJP and Congress in announcing a candidate for the Rae Bareli seat. “We have been able to send a message to the people that the Gandhi family is in dilemma over announcing a candidate from the seat, and confusion prevails in the BJP camp over the selection of the candidate. The BSP has given a chance to an OBC candidate committed to the policies of the party,” he said.

“The BSP will also highlight that several development projects were launched in Rae Bareli under the Mayawati government (2007-2012),” he added.

Qamar Hayat Ansari from Pasmanda community to contest Ambedkar Nagar

The BSP has fielded Qamar Hayat Ansari from the Ambedkar Nagar Lok Sabha constituency. Ansari, who comes from the Pasmanda community, is the former chairman of the Jalalpur Nagar Palika Parishad located in the Ambedkar Nagar district.

The Ambedkar Nagar constituency is considered a strong bastion of the BSP. Party chief Mayawati has won from the seat for three terms in the 1998, 199, and 2004 Lok Sabha elections. She resigned from the seat after her election to the Rajya Sabha.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, BSP candidate Ritesh Pandey secured victory from the seat. After the notification of the 2024 Lok Sabha election, Pandey defected to the BJP and is contesting the election on a BJP ticket. The SP has fielded former minister in the BSP government, Lalji Verma, who is an MLA from the Katehri assembly seat.

The BSP has fielded Brajesh Kumar Sonkar from the Bahraich reserved Lok Sabha seat.