Are Congress bastions, Amethi and Rae Bareli, set for a battle of Ranis in Uttar Pradesh poll?

With no clear picture on Amethi, Rae Bareli in Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance, the high profile constituency may see battle between the two wives of Raja Sanjay Singh
Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi. |  PTI File Photo
Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi. | PTI File Photo

LUCKNOW: Even as the Congress-Samajwadi Party alliance is ruling the pollscape of Uttar Pradesh, seat-sharing in Amethi and Rae Bareli remains an unresolved riddle between the two allies.
 
While Congress is looking at all the 10 assembly constituencies in its proverbial bastion -- the two parliamentary seats being held by Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and AICC chief Sonia Gandhi -- the SP appears reluctant to spare more than five seats.
 
It has already announced two candidates in Amethi—Amethi (Gayatri Prajapati) and Gauriganj (Rakesh Pratap Singh) -- and three in Rae Bareli – Sareni, Salon (R) and Unchahar – while leaving the remaining three seats in Amethi and two seats in Rae Bareli for Congress.
 
The BJP, has meanwhile, played a masterstroke by fielding the estranged first wife of Dr Sanjay Singh (Raja of Amethi)— Garima Singh, 60. She is pitted against the controversial minister Gayatri Prajapati of the Samajwadi Party in the Amethi assembly constituency.
 
In 2012, Prajapati drubbed Sanjay Singh’s second wife Amita Singh who contested as a Congress candidate. Amita had earlier won this seat twice – once in 2007 for the Congress and in 2002 for the BJP.
 
Amita, 54, the current queen of Amethi also wants to contest from the Amethi seat. However, Akhilesh, who earlier allotted the ticket to Mulayam loyalist Gayatri Prajapati, seems to be in no mood to withdraw her in favour of Amita Singh despite several rounds of talks with Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi.
 
As per reports, Amita is all set to contest as an independent candidate. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had said at the joint press conference on Sunday in Lucknow that the seat sharing in these two constituencies was a peripheral issue which would be worked out by the allies in due course.
 
On the other hand, Sanjay Singh, who heads the Congress campaign committee in UP announced, as per the directives of party high command, that all the 10 seats of Amethi and Rae Bareli would be contested by the Congress party.
 
On the candidature of his first wife Garima, Sanjay Singh stated the BJP allotted ticket to Garima— a relatively unknown political face in Amethi—ignoring its committed workers.
 
“People don’t recognise her. Amita (his present wife) is the only Rani Amethi has,” he said adding that she had been in politics for quite some time and was very popular among the people.
 
It is noteworthy that Garima, the mother of his three children, might be a late political debutant but is not a novice in the field. She is the niece of former Prime Minister Late VP Singh and is descendent of the royal family of Daiya.
 
Her candidature from Amethi may change the poll dynamics of the constituency which is traditionally the Congress pocket borough.
 
After keeping away from Amethi owing to her estrangement with Sanjay Singh, she returned to the family’s Bhupati Bhawan palace only in July 2014. Along with her three children, son Anant Vikram and daughters Mahima and Shaivya, Garima has been engaged in a feud over her share in family fortunes with Sanjay Singh and Amita.
 
Last year, in a bid to find a foothold in the Congress bastion, the BJP inducted Garima Singh’s son Anant Vikram as a member. He was followed by his sister, Mahima. Initially reluctant, Garima Singh has finally stepped out of the four walls of the royal palace and now seems all set for the battle ahead.
 
The 2017 assembly polls, in fact, may only serve as a stepping stone for the erstwhile Rani of Amethi. The BJP may be preparing her for the next round— the 2019 parliamentary elections—to take on Congress
vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Amethi's incumbent three-term MP, local residents say.
 
Now, with Garima Singh in the fray, the battle on the cards may turn out to be a Rani versus Rani if SP concedes the seat to Congress in favour of Amita Singh, who, anyway, is more than willing to face her bête noir.

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