After wannabe corporators pelted stones at UP Congress Committee office after being denied tickets, several Congress leaders staged a protest at the state headquarters on Monday, alleging that tickets were `sold’ to outsiders overlooking trusted workers.
Interestingly, the UPCC media cell tried to hush up the incident claiming that such charges were common by those who failed to get ticket. However, no leader came forward to explain why a local leader, whose name figured as candidate for lucknow local Bodies poll, joined by hundreds of her supporters staged dharna and levelled charges demanding to review the list or cancel her candidature.
“Party tickets were sold to outsiders for Rs 2 to 3 lakh ignoring trusted workers who worked for the party in good times and bad for the last several decades,” alleged former corporator Reena Vikram Singh. Her name also figured in the party’s list of candidates from Tilaknagar (Kundari Rakabganj).
Singh led a huge protest at the state Congress headquarters and sat on a dharna in front of UP Congress chief Raj Babbar’s office on Monday afternoon. She claimed that it was ironical that outsiders were preferred over trusted workers for a `price’ and the state chief was not ready to listen to workers and fled the office at a time when electioneering is at its peak.
“I am trying to contact Raj Babbar or any senior leader for the last over 24-hours to apprise them how tickets were `auctioned’. Not a single leader responded or even listened to my complaint. I even handed over a letter addressed to the state chief requesting him to shift her from Tilaknagar (Kundari Rakabganj) and field her from Ward-1 (Ambedkarnagar) seat. Tilaknagar seat is safe for veteran Congress leader Mohammed Ahmed’s family, who himself won earlier and later his son and daughter-in-law won the seat later on Congress tickets. last time, despite contesting as independents, they lost by few hundred votes,” said Singh. Another former coroprator Ravi Shankar Mishra also alleged that ticket for lalkaun ward was sold for Rs 2.5 lakh by the party brass. He claimed that ignoring winnable candidates, a senior leader sold the ticket to party hopper Ankit Sharma. The latter however denied the above charges. Several other Congress leaders also made similar allegations claiming that an aspirant’s father even died of cardiac failure after learning that the party had refused to field his son for the UlB poll.