There is resentment among the Congress leaders in Uttar Pradesh over the candidature of poet-turned-politician Imran Pratapgarhi for the Rajya Sabha seat from Maharashtra. The party leaders in the state have started questioning the merit on which Pratapgarhi has been nominated for the Rajya Sabha.
“This 34-year-old (poet-turned-politician) joined the Congress in 2019 and is now being sent to the Rajya Sabha. His credentials and service to the party are doubtful. It was his communal campaigning due to which we lost an election in Bangarmau in Unnao. If the party has to send a Muslim leader (to Rajya Sabha), there are many veterans like Ghulam Nabi Azad, Salman Khurshid, Rashid Alvi and others," said a senior party leader questioning the selection of Pratapgarhi.
A former president of UP Congress said he was not even aware who Imran Pratapgarhi was. "I do not know who is taking such decisions that will further push the party down. The leadership seems to be working by proxy and this will spell doom for the party," he said.
Senior leaders say that this decision will be a big blow to the secular image of the party. Imran Pratapgarhi is known for his communal remarks. In the past, some of his speeches also came to the fore where he was heard telling a particular section of society that “if you have to die, then kill 4-6 and die”.
In 2019, Pratapgarhi had contested the Lok Sabha election from Moradabad on Congress ticket.
Another leader came up with a video clip in which Imran Pratapgarhi can be heard singing paeans to mafia don Mukhtar Ansari. He said, "This is a poet on sale. He used to sing in praise of Akhilesh Yadav and was rewarded with a Yash Bharti in 2016. Such a person will now sit in the Upper House of Parliament, “the leader added.
“Maybe there was some shortcoming in my tapasya,” Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera wrote in a cryptic tweet, shortly after the list of candidates came out.
The tweet was shared by actress Nagma, presently general secretary of Mahila Congress, who lamented that even her “efforts of 21 years" had “fallen short in front of Imran (Pratapgarhi) bhai”.
Interestingly, not only by Congress leaders, on social media also, a lot of questions are being raised about Imran Pratapgarhi. One wrote on social media that on the one hand the Congress was pretending to be secular and on the other it was working to send a communal face like Imran Pratapgarhi to the Rajya Sabha. “This is their truth which is coming out openly in front of everyone,” the post said.
Another post said no one had faith in Congress leadership, neither the public nor the members of his party. “Be it Kapil Sibal, Pawan Kheda or Nagma, everyone believes that ability is nothing (in the Congress). The will of the family is everything,” it said.
It may be mentioned that the Congress on Sunday announced the names of 10 candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections in which Uttar Pradesh has got the lion’s share as three leaders from the state -- Rajeev Shukla, Pramod Tiwari and Imran Pratapgarhi -- have been nominated. Shukla and Tiwari are from the Brahmin community on which the Congress is likely to focus. The other surprise candidate was Pratapgarhi who has been given nomination from Maharashtra, focusing on the minority votes of the state.
Imran Pratapgarhi, a 34-year-old poet from UP, is the youngest candidate on the list and will be contesting from Maharashtra. His name as the party’s young, minority representative to replace Ghulam Nabi Azad has left many surprised, sources said.
