Congress, BJP V- Ps will bring UP to a boil

Two vice- presidents of two political parties, located on the opposite sides of the political spectrum, are preparing to put western Uttar Pradesh on the boil for the upcoming Assembly elections.

Newly- appointed vicepresident of the UP Congress Imran Masood will be pitted against BJP MLA Suresh Rana, who has been appointed state BJP vice- president. Incidentally, both the appointments were declared on Tuesday.

Imran Masood shot to “fame” in 2014 when his infamous speech about “chopping Narendra Modi to pieces” went viral and he was arrested.

“That speech was not delivered during the Lok Sabha election campaign — it was about eight months prior to that when I was still in the Samajwadi Party. The context in which the speech was given was conveniently edited out and I became the villain,” he said.

Mr Masood denied that he was preparing for a communal campaign for the Assembly polls.

“I am in the Congress and will follow the party ideology of nonviolence. There will be no such thing in my campaign,” he said. One of his supporters added, “But if someone

Masood is known for his speech about ‘ chopping Narendra Modi to pieces’ and Rana is an accused in the Muzaffarnagar riots

tries to provoke us beyond a point, we will definitely react in a non- violent manner.”

Imran Masood has emerged as an icon among Muslim youth and was solely responsible for ensuring the victory of the Congress in a by- election in Deoband earlier in 2016.

Pitted against Imran Masood will be BJP MLA Suresh Rana, an accused in the Muzaffarnagar riots. Comparatively soft spoken, Suresh Rana is presently out on bail but party sources confirm that he will be one of the star campaigners in western UP where “Hindus look up to him”.

Suresh Rana said, “It is wrong to say that I will be carrying out a communal campaign. I have been falsely implicated in the riots cases. I have never been involved in such activities but as a leader, it is well within my rights to protect my voters and speak for them.” He insists that the BJP and the Congress have propped up these leaders with the sole intention of communalising the atmosphere in western UP.