Hours before the end of campaigning for the first phase of UP assembly elections, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra took out a successful road show in Mathura and performed puja on the bank of the river Yamuna on Tuesday.
Riding a tractor across the city during the election campaigning in Hastinapur, Priyanka said, "Congress is receiving good response from the public during our campaigning for Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.”
Mathura is among the few seats where Congress candidate Pradeep Mathur is fighting fit even though he is not exactly fit. Mathur suffered multiple fractures on his left arm on January 16 and had to be admitted to a private hospital in Delhi where he was advised a surgery but that would have meant hospitalisation for at least one week. The four-term MLA got the procedure postponed and will now be admitted to the hospital on February 11, a day after polling in Mathura.
"Doctors found multiple fractures in my humerus (bone in upper arm) and suggested a procedure to fix it with plates and nuts. But that would have kept me away from electioneering for a week. I got it fixed temporarily and returned to campaigning," he said.
At present, Mathura is represented by UP Energy Minister Shrikant Sharma, who is also in the fray. Mathur, who was elected from Mathura for the first time in 1985 and represented the seat for three consecutive terms -- 2002, 2007 and 2012 -- is confident of winning again.
"People have seen the work done by the BJP in the past five years and want a change. I am getting overwhelming support and with public blessing, I hope to regain my seat," he said.
Meanwhile, Congress received a shot in the arm after Samajwadi Party leader from Shravasti and former MLA from Shravasti assembly seat, Haji Mohammad Ramzan, left the party to join Congress on Tuesday.
The Congress immediately announced Ramzan’s candidature from the Shravasti seat, replacing Jyoti Verma. Ramzan later said that he was influenced by the policies of Congress and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's struggle and dialogue, which led him to join the Congress.
It may be mentioned that Samajwadi Party had field Haji Mohammad Ramzan from Matera assembly seat of Bahraich, but Ramzan rejected the SP offer as he wanted to contest from Shravasti.
A resident of Bhinga in Shravasti, Ramzan has been a former SP MLA from Shravasti assembly seat from 2012 to 2017. In the 2017 assembly election, he lost the by a meagre 445 votes.
Having started his political career with the SP in 1992, Ramzan remained associated with the party for 30 long years. During this, he served as an MLC and MLA from SP. He was considered among the close friends of Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mohammad Azam Khan.