Former BSP figures join Uttar Pradesh Congress ahead of polls
Several former Bahujan Samaj Party figures, including a former State Minister and a former Lok Sabha candidate, have joined the Uttar Pradesh Congress. State Congress leaders presented the move as evidence of growing support, while acknowledging that the claims came from the party and were not accompanied by an opposing response.
Former Bahujan Samaj Party figures were among dozens of political leaders and workers who joined the Uttar Pradesh Congress at the party’s State headquarters in Lucknow on Sunday, according to The Hindu. Those named included Izhar-ul-Haq, who served as a Minister in a BSP government in the 1990s; Naeem Ahmed, a former BSP candidate in the 1998 Lok Sabha election; Madan Mohan Sharma, a former student leader; and Rashid Khan, a former block chief in Nanpara, Bahraich. The Congress said the newcomers were accompanied by hundreds of supporters.
State party president Ajay Rai welcomed them and described the gathering as evidence that the party’s support base included different social groups and communities. Rai said the new members represented minority communities, backward groups, Dalits and upper castes. He also said Mr Haq and Mr Ahmed had strong social bases in their respective regions.
The party presented the defections as a sign of momentum ahead of the next Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. Congress leaders further claimed that public sentiment was turning against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Those claims were made by party representatives in the supplied report; no BJP response was included.
The latest arrivals followed the reported entry into the Congress on September 24 of former MP Amir Alam Khan and his son, former MLA Nawazish Alam Khan. Leaders from the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, Azad Samaj Party, Aam Aadmi Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal were also said to have joined around that time. Amir Alam Khan previously represented Kairana in the Lok Sabha as an RLD member and had also served as a Rajya Sabha member and a three-term legislator.
Congress national secretary Shahnawaz Alam said the recent changes showed that Uttar Pradesh wanted political change. He linked the movement to the party’s claims about protecting the country’s plural and democratic character, and said the Muslim community and wider public had confidence in Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. The supplied material records the Congress’s account of the developments but does not provide responses from the BJP or the other parties from which the leaders came.
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