Danish Ali joins Congress, likely to be its pick in Amroha

Amroha is one of the 17 Lok Sabha seats allocated to the Congress in alliance with the Samajwadi Party.

Updated on: Mar 21, 2024, 06:12:16 IST

By Umesh Raghuvanshi, Lucknow

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Suspended Bahujan Samaj Party MP Kunwar Danish Ali, who joined the Congress in New Delhi on Wednesday, is set to be the grand old party’s choice for the Amroha Lok Sabha seat, which he won in 2019, people aware of the development said.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MP Danish Ali joins Congress in the presence of Congress leader Pawan Khera, at AICC headquarters, in New Delhi on Wednesday (Mohd Zakir/ ANI)

Amroha is one of the 17 Lok Sabha seats allocated to the Congress in alliance with the Samajwadi Party.

“Rahul Gandhi is fighting for all the issues considered important for the people. The Congress will be able to make use of our energy better now,” Ali said on the phone after joining the Congress.

Asked whether he has been promised a ticket, Ali said the Congress high command will take a call on the issue.

As the BSP candidate, Ali had won the Amroha seat five years ago, securing 51.39% votes. The Congress did not have a strong face for Amroha.

“Friends, today I have joined the Congress. Today, there is a struggle between two forces in the country... I have chosen to side with the well-wishers of the poor,” Ali said in a post on X in Hindi after joining the Congress.

He had recently met Congress top leader Sonia Gandhi at her 10 Janpath residence in New Delhi to seek her blessings.

“Honoured to get the blessings of the epitome of sacrifice, Smt #SoniaGandhi for my 2nd #LokSabhaElection from #Amroha. Her heart beats for India’s poor. It was NAC headed by her that piloted landmark pro-poor & transparency laws like MNREGA, #RTI, Right to Education, Food Security Bill,” Ali said in a post on X after meeting Sonia Gandhi on March 14.

Earlier, Ali had joined the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Amroha last month. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also accompanied her brother there.

Last year, BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri’s use of objectionable words against Danish Ali in the Lok Sabha had created a storm in the political circles. Rahul Gandhi, in an apparent show of solidarity, had met Ali at his residence in New Delhi.

The Bahujan Samaj Party, however, suspended Ali for anti-party activities.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Umesh Raghuvanshi
Umesh Raghuvanshi is an award-winning journalist with nearly four decades of demonstrated experience in the profession. He is the author of Ayodhya: The Gods Are Liberated. He is skilled in storytelling and newswriting, and writes on politics, governance, legislature, finance, environment, and social issues. He is based in Lucknow, is well-travelled, and has covered several national and international events, as well as all assembly and parliament elections in Uttar Pradesh since 1984. He has been a visiting scholar at the Graduate School of Journalism, University of California, Berkeley, USA, and a Metcalf Fellow at the Metcalf Institute of Marine and Environmental Reporting, University of Rhode Island, USA. He is a science graduate from DBS College, Dehradun, and holds an MA in Political Science from DAV (PG) College, Dehradun. He won the KC Kulish International Merit Award for excellence in journalism (2015) and received it in New Delhi in 2017. He also won a competition organised by the United Nations Environment Programme DTIE OzonAction Programme in 2009 that assessed coverage of the interlinkages between ozone and climate change. He was awarded in Beijing, China, in 2010. He started his career with a Dehradun-based English daily in the early 1980s and later worked with The Pioneer too.Read More