BSP fields Muslim candidate against Modi

LUCKNOW : The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) announced candidates on 11 Lok Sabha seats on Tuesday. It has fielded a Muslim candidate, Athar Jamal Lari from the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Congress has fielded UP Congress Committee president Ajay Rai against Modi. The BSP candidate who has contested three Vidhan Sabha and two Lok Sabha elections unsuccessfully, has earlier been associated with Samajwadi Party and Qaumi Ekta Dal (QED) launched by gangster turned politician Mukhtar Ansari and his brother Afzal Ansari, who is contesting the Lok Sabha elections on an SP ticket from Ghazipur LS seat.

Lari is likely to dent into the Muslim support base of the Congress-SP alliance.

BSP sprung a surprise by fielding Srikala Reddy, wife of gangster turned politician Dhananjay Singh from Jaunpur seat.

In March, he was sentenced to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment by the MP/MLA court in a 2020 kidnapping of a Jal Nigam officer.

Mayawati has fielded former MLA Shiv Prasad Yadav from Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat, replacing Glushan Dev Shakya. Yadav had secured victory from the Barthana assembly seat in Etawah on BSP ticket in 2007. He defected to the BJP and in 2023, launched Sarvajan Sukhay Party, after resigning from the BJP.

BSP has fielded former MLA Muslim Khan from Budaun seat from where SP has fielded Aditya Yadav, son of the party general secretary, Shivpal Yadav, while the BJP has fielded Durvijay Singh.

Former MLA Master Chhotelal Gangwar has been fielded by BSP from the Bareilly LS seat against BJP candidate Chhatrapal Gangwar and Congress candidate Praveen Singh Aron. BSP has fielded Udai Raj Verma from Sultanpur against BJP candidate Maneka Gandhi. The SP has fielded former minister Ram Bhuval Nishad. The BSP has fielded Kranti Pandey from Farrukhabad Lok Sabha seat against sitting BJP MP Mukesh Rajput and SP has fielded Naval Kishore Shakya. Mayank Dwivedi, son of former MLA Purushottam Naresh Dwivedi, has been fielded from Banda seat. The BJP has fielded sitting MP, RK Singh Patel while the Congress-SP alliance has fielded former minister Shiv Shankar Singh Patel.

BSP has fielded ex-Army personnel Lallan Singh Yadav from Ballia. BJP has fielded Neeraj Shekhar, son of former prime minister Chandrashekhar.

The BSP has fielded former student union leader of BHU, Umesh Kumar Singh, from Ghazipur. The SP has fielded former MP Afzal Ansari, while BJP has fielded Paras Nath Rai.