New Delhi: Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav will hold their first joint rally in Amroha on April 20 as the INDIA bloc gets aggressive to take on the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. The state is important for both the ruling BJP as well as the opposition INDIA bloc as it sends the largest number of MPs 80 to the Lok Sabha.
In 2019, the SP and the BSP had contested as an alliance but in 2024, the Congress and the SP came together while SP's former ally RLD joined hands with the saffron party. The first test for the opposition bloc would be in the eight seats - Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Pilibhit, Moradabad, Rampur, Saharanpur, Bijnor and Nagina where polling will be held in phase 1 on April 19.
Out of the eight, Saharanpur is with Congress while the SP is contesting the remaining seven seats. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had won seven of these eight seats and is again hopeful in 2024 and is also banking on ally RLD’s presence in western parts of the state to counter the unease among the Jat farmers who dominate the area.
The INDIA bloc is trying hard to reverse the trend, said Congress leaders. Accordingly, Rahul and Akhilesh will seek votes in support of Congress candidate from Amroha Kunwar Danish Ali, who had been elected from the seat in 2019 on a BSP ticket.
Danish Ali, who had earlier been ridiculed by BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri inside the Lok Sabha, was suspended from the BSP after he supported TMC MP Mohua Moitra, who was being targeted by the treasury benches. Later, Rahul Gandhi met Ali to express solidarity with him. Ali joined the Congress in March and got the grand old party’s ticket the next day.
"Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav will campaign for Danish Ali on April 20. Ali’s joining will help us in the western parts of UP. There is disquiet within the BSP which lost another MP Malook Nagar recently. On April 17, Priyanka Gandhi will stage a massive roadshow in Saharanpur in support of our candidate Imran Masood," All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Pradeep Narwal told ETV Bharat.
Amroha will have polling in phase 2 on April 26 where Danish Ali is pitted against Mujahid Chaudhary of the BSP. Like Danish Ali, Imran Masood too is ex-BSP and was expelled from the party earlier by BSP supremo and former Chief Minister Mayawati for anti-party activities.
Priyanka Gandhi had played a role in the joining of Imran Masood last year as well as behind the induction of Danish Ali, said party insiders.
On a day Priyanka would campaign in Saharanpur, both Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav will hold a joint press conference in UP's Ghaziabad bordering Delhi on April 17 to pitch for the opposition grouping.
Ghaziabad will have a triangular contest in 2024. The seat has been with the BJP since 2009 when Union Minister Rajnath Singh won from there. In 2014 and 2019, retired Army Chief General VK Singh represented the constituency in the Lok Sabha. In 2024, General Singh voluntarily withdrew from the race paving the way for sitting MLA Atul Garg as the BJP candidate for the Lok Sabha contest. Garg is pitted against Congress candidate Dolly Sharma and BSP’s Nand Kishore Pundir.
In Saharanpur, Congress nominee Imran Masood is pitted against BJP's Raghav Lakhanpal and BSP’s Majid Ali in a triangular fight.
