Lucknow: Bharatiya Janata Party’s announcement of Upendra Singh Patel as its candidate for the Phulpur by-elections has led to discontent among local party leaders.
The point of contention seems to be that the party chose to field a candidate from Varanasi rather than someone from the district. The seat was vacated by Keshav Prasad Maurya, who won it by a margin of over 3 lakh votes and then went on to become the state’s deputy chief minister.
A businessman by profession, Upendra Singh Patel was the mayor of Varanasi from 2006 to 2012 and holds a Master’s Degree in Commerce from Banaras Hindu University. As per sources, Upendra was given the ticket from Phulpur as the constituency houses a large base of Patel votes.
If rumours are to be believed, Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya wanted the ticket to go to his wife or son but his idea was opposed by the other senior BJP leaders in Allahabad – health minister Sidharth Nath Singh and civil aviation minister Nand Gopal 'Nandi'.
Sources add that despite his displeasure, the responsibility of ensuring Upendra Patel’s victory in Phulpur lies with Maurya as he had won the seat by an incredible margin.
The Phulpur constituency in Allahabad boasts of association with two former Prime Ministers –Jawaharlal Nehru and VP Singh. The seat was considered a stronghold of the Congress once, but BJP wrested that control in 2014. Retaining the seat for BJP will not be an easy task as the Samajwadi Party has also fielded a Patel candidate keeping in mind the vote base of the constituency.
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