SP-Congress bonhomie hits snag in Sonia bastion

Unchahar, Rae Bareli: The Congress-SP alliance, which is reportedly flourishing across the state, has come to an abrupt halt in Unchahar Assembly segment of Rae bareli.

The bonhomie that the alliance partners are going out of their way to display through joint roadshows is missing here.

Congress and SP are contesting against each other and despite efforts by the leaders of the alliance, the issue arising out of perceived “differences” could not be resolved. The fight is certainly not “friendly” between the two candidates.

The Samajwadi candidate is the sitting MLA and UP minister Manoj Pandey and the Congress candidate is its former MLA Ajay Pal Singh.

Mr Pandey comes with a bag of controversies, both at the local as well as the state level. He was sacked by chief minister Akhilesh Yadav last year but made a comeback later because he is known as the Brahmin face of the Samajwadi Party.

The chief minister campaigned for Mr Pandey on Monday but did not utter a word against the Congress. He reiterated that the Congress-SP alliance would form the next government.

(The chief minister, however, made an interesting comment when he appealed to superstar Amitabh Bachchan to stop publicising donkeys of Gujarat. This was in reference to Mr Bachchan’s ad film that publicises the wild ass sanctuary in Gujarat).

Mr Pandey, however, insists that his campaign focuses on the ‘Congress harao’ slogan, making its amply clear that his main rival is Ajay Pal Singh of the grand old party.

Mr Singh, the erstwhile Raja of Unchahar, is undeterred because Mr Rahul Gandhi and Ms Priyanka Gandhi have already campaigned for him. “The message was clear when my leaders came to my constituency. The people know that I am the official candidates and false propaganda will not cut much ice,” he said.

Mr Singh, who had won the Unchahar seat on a Congress ticket in 2007 but lost in 2012, by a margin of a few thousand votes, says that the Congress was justified in laying claim? to the Unchahar seat.

“There is a lot of resentment against Manoj Pandey in the constituency. His men have been taking contracts and minting money. The seat should have gone to the Congress but we will fight till the end and I am confident of my victory,” he said.

The BJP has fielded Utkarsh Maurya, son of Swami Prasad Maurya. Utkarsh had lost in 2012 and the battle is tough this time too.