LUCKNOW: With an intention to repeat Gorakhpur and Phulpur in Kairana and Noorpur, Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) of Chaudhary Ajit Singh, on Saturday, decided to filed a common candidate against the ruling BJP in Kairana parliamentary constituency, the by-election to which is scheduled for May 28. Noorpur Assembly seat will also witness bypoll same day.
Notably, the BSP is not contesting the bypolls. BSP chief Mayawati had announced after losing Rajya Sabha polls in UP that she would not mobilise her workers for any bypoll till 2019 Lok Sabha elections. However, the Congress is yet to open its cards.The by-election to Kairana Lok Sabha and Noorpur Assembly seats has been necessitated due to the death of BJP lawmakers Hukum Singh and Lokendra Singh Chauhan last year.
After hectic three-hour parleys between SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and RLD’s national general secretary Jayant Chaudhary (Ajit Singh’s son) in Lucknow on Friday, they agreed to field Tabassum Hasan, wife of former BSP MP Munawwar Hasan, as RLD’s candidate in Kairana. The seat has been given to RLD while Noorpur will go to SP. Both parties will support each other’s candidates at both places. A senior RLD leader said Jayant could have fought from Kairana but the party wanted to bridge the gap between Muslims and Jats that occurred during the 2013 riots. “So a Muslim candidate has been fielded.”