Accepting the request of UP Congress chief Raj Babbar, the Congress brass has changed the seat allotted to him earlier and fielded him from Fatehpur Sikri Lok Sabha constituency.
Babbar had expressed his intention to contest from Fatehpur Sikri Lok Sabha seat but he was shifted to Moradabad constituency in anticipation that Bollywood star-turned-politician Hema Malini could be fielded from Fatehpur Sikri by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
However, soon after Hema Malini’s ticket was announced by the BJP from Mathura, Babbar got in touch with his party brass and got himself shifted to Fatehpur Sikri.
Sources in the Congress said that besides Babbar, another senior leader, Jitin Prasada, about whom there were rumours on Friday that he would join the BJP, would now contest the Lok Sabha poll from Lucknow against Rajnath Singh, instead of Dharaura.
The sources maintained that fearing his defeat, Prasada wanted a change in his seat but a senior Congress leader convinced him to take up the prestigious fight from Lucknow. Prasada was told that even if he lost the election, the party would ensure a berth for him in the Rajya Sabha later on.
However, efforts to confirm the development from Prasada failed as he could not be contacted for comments.
In the seventh list released by the Congress late on Friday night, the party announced nine more candidates from UP while changing candidates on two seats.
Till date, the Congress has announced 44 candidates and has left 16 out of the total 80 seats for alliance partners and other like-minded parties.
The major surprise in the list was the candidature of Bal Kumar Patel, who joined the party in New Delhi on Friday. He has been fielded from Banda Lok Sabha seat.
Brother of dreaded dacoit Shiv Kumar Patel alias Dadua, Bal Kumar is a former MP of Samajwadi Party from Mirzapur.
Another surprise in the list is former leader of Bahujan Samaj Party and MLC Naseemuddin Siddique who has been fielded from Bijnor in place of earlier announced candidate Indira Bhati.
Siddique is a native of Banda and will be fighting the Lok Sabha polls for the first time, that too from the bastion of BSP, once represented by Mayawati.
The other Congress candidates are Trilokram Diwakar from Hathras, Preeta Harit, who recently took voluntary retirement from Indian Revenue Services, from Agra, Praveen Singh Aron from Bareilly, Virendra Kumar Verma from Hardoi, Imran Pratapgarhiya from Moradabad and Girish Chand Pasi from Kaushambi.
In view of the resentment brewing in the party, the Congress is taking no chances and has changed the constituency of Raj Babbar on his demand. The decision to field Babbar from Moradabad was criticised by many. All-India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat (AIMMM) chief Navaid Hamid had questioned why the party field Raj Babbar from Moradabad when any Muslim candidate could have easily won from the seat.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha poll, Raj Babbar had contested from Ghaziabad but lost to BJP candidate General (Retd) VK Singh.
Babbar forayed into politics by joining VP Singh-led Janata Dal in 1989. He later hopped to Samajwadi Party and was elected as MP thrice on its ticket. From 1994 to 1999, he was a member of Rajya Sabha. But in 2006, Babbar was suspended from Samajwadi Party after which he joined Congress and got elected for a fourth time as MP by defeating SP candidate and Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple Yadav from Kannauj in 2009.
Meanwhile, to boost his chances from Fatehpur Sikri, Babbar held a press conference in Agra on Saturday and managed the entry of some former BSP MLAs and a Rashtriya Lok Dal leader into the Congress. Ex-BSP MLAs Dharampal Singh, Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha, Thakur Suraj Pal Singh joined Congress in the presence of Babbar in Agra on Saturday.