LS elections: Turncoats strike rich in UP

Lucknow, March 25 (IANS) Turncoats, at one time, were looked down upon in politics but today, they seem to be reaping a rich harvest in Uttar Pradesh.

The first Congress list for Uttar Pradesh included the names of Imran Masood from Saharanpur and Sadal Prasad from Bansgaon. Imram Masood has travelled from Samajwadi Party (SP) to Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and then the Congress. Sadal Prasad has come in Congress from the BSP. Danish Ali, who has been fielded from Amroha, quit the BSP two months ago and joined the Congress a fortnight ago.

The first Samajwadi Party's list included the name of Afzal Ansari, who had been elected to the Lok Sabha in 2019 on a BSP ticket.

Afzal Ansari is the brother of the jailed gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, and will be contesting the Ghazipur seat.

Ram Prasad Chaudhary, who is seeking election from Basti, is also from the BSP while Rajaram Pal the SP, candidate from Akbarpur, has also come in from BSP with a brief stopover in the Congress.

Annu Tandon from Unnao and R.K. Chaudhary from Mohanlalganj, both moved from SP to the Congress.

The BJP list also has its share of turncoats -- from Jitin Prasada, who is contesting Pilibhit and has come from the Congress, to Jagdambika Pal, sitting MP from Domariyaganj -- who have quit the Congress years ago and has been with the BJP.

A senior political analyst R K Singh said, “The tendency to give preference to turncoats over dedicated party workers is weakening the cadres of parties. Those who work for the parties are conveniently sidelined in favour of turncoats for whom changing parties is a political business.”

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