Amid the ongoing tussle between two Opposition INDIA bloc allies the Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP) over seat sharing, especially for the upcoming Madhya Pradesh assembly polls, four-time MP Ravi Prakash Verma quit the SP on Friday. He is set to join the Congress.
Senior Congress leaders confirm that Ravi Verma is in touch and is set to join the grand old party on November 6. In a letter addressed to SP president Akhilesh Yadav, Verma said he found himself unable to work for the party due to adverse internal party atmosphere in Kheri and he was resigning from the primary membership of the party.
Verma is considered to be a Kurmi leader with considerable following in the terai belt and senior party leaders see this as a move that will help the Congress in building atmosphere in its favour ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha election. His move may further widen the gulf between the grand old party and the Samajwadi Party.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had alleged that the Congress has not left any seats for the SP candidates in MP. Former Congress MP Zafar Ali Naqvi, who has considerable influence as a Congress leader in the area, may have strong reservations against the move. Naqvi was not available for his comments. District Congress Committee Lakhimpur Kheri president Prahlad Patel, however, said there is no question of any Congress leader having any reservations.
“This is ‘Ghar Vapsi’ (homecoming) of Ravi Prakash Verma whose father Bal Govind Verma has been a former deputy union labour minister and remained MP for three terms. His mother Usha Verma too has also been a three-term MP. Ravi We all are here to strengthen the Congress, and this is one such move,” said Prahalad Patel.
{{/usCountry}}“This is ‘Ghar Vapsi’ (homecoming) of Ravi Prakash Verma whose father Bal Govind Verma has been a former deputy union labour minister and remained MP for three terms. His mother Usha Verma too has also been a three-term MP. Ravi We all are here to strengthen the Congress, and this is one such move,” said Prahalad Patel.
{{/usCountry}}His father Bal Govind Verma was the Congress MP from Kheri in 1962, 1967, 1972 and 1980 followed by his mother Usha Verma who was elected from Kheri in 1980, 1985 and 1989. Ravi Prakash Verma was elected from Kheri Lok Sabha seat in 1998, 1999, and 2004 on the SP ticket. He was also SP’s Rajya Sabha member from 2014-2020.
On why he quit the SP, Verma alleged, “The party (SP) has deviated from its founding principals and sane voices inside the party are getting sidelined.” “I had called on party president Akhilesh Yadav and elaborated on the sad affairs in Kheri SP unit. But when no course correction happened and I felt isolated, I made up my mind to part ways,” he said.
The sources said Verma’s entry into the Congress was cleared after his meeting with UPCC president Ajay Rai last week. He was also approached by emissaries of central Congress leadership, they added.
Verma, however, said despite joining the Congress, he would “keep away from the electoral politics and would prefer to give chance to his daughter Dr Purvi Verma who had contested the last LS polls from Kheri on the SP ticket but lost to BJP’s Ajay Mishra Teni who is Union minister of state for home.
Meanwhile, SP leader Sudhir Panwar said: “The family of Ravi Prakash Verma enjoyed the party’s and public confidence for long. His family enjoyed electoral and nomination posts. His resignation is unfortunate but the SP has a strong base there (Kheri).” “Verma’s joining the Congress will prove further that in U.P. the Congress is planning to strengthen at the expense of the Samajwadi Party,” Panwar added.