Lucknow: The BJP has always been critical of dynasty politics, but in Uttar Pradesh the party has overlooked this as it has fielded many candidates in the polls whose nearest family members are MPs or MLAs or party position holders.
BJP’s Saurav Singh, seeking a second term from Kheri district, is the son of Jugul Kishore, who has been a Rajya Sabha MP from the BSP and is currently a minister in the Yogi cabinet.
BJP’s Mukut Bihari Verma’s son Gaurav Verma is contesting in place of his father from Kaiserganj.
Similarly, Prateek Bhushan Singh, son of Kaiserganj BJP MP Brij Bhushan Singh, is seeking re-election from Gonda. Prateek’s rival from the Samajwadi Party is Suraj Singh, who is a nephew of Pandit Singh, a former minister in the state who passed away due to Covid.
Even as the BJP has been attacking the Congress and the Samajwadi Party for being ‘dynasty’ oriented, examples of relatives of its MPs and MLAs getting tickets have exposed the party.
The SP has fielded Anandsen from Rudauli, who is the son of Mitrasen Yadav, a former MP.
Yasir Shah, son of former minister Waqar Shah, is seeking a third term on a SP ticket. Yasir’s wife is also contesting and his mother was a Lok Sabha MP from Bahraich.
The Congress is not far behind. P.L. Punia’s son Tanuj Punia is fighting in Barabanki district. Salman Khurshid’s wife Louis Khurshid, who was a MLA in the past, was in the fray in the third phase.
Similarly, Zeba Rizwan, daughter of former MP Rizwan Zaheer, is in the fray from Tulsipur as an Independent.
While the BJP has been maintaining that it is going by the rule of one family one ticket only and has denied a ticket to Rita Bahuguna Joshi’s son, the party has given tickets to family members.
The SP has been termed ‘parivarwad’ by the BJP. The argument from the political parties is that they have given tickets as some of the leaders have passed away, but it’s not so in all the cases. The SP is saying Mitrasen Yadav and Waqar Shah have passed away so the tickets have been given to their family members.
Though at the national level, the BJP has been hitting out at the Congress and in UP it is targeting Akhilesh Yadav, in the BJP too leaders are rising from families who are second or third generation politicians.
–IANS