SAMAJWADI PARTY general secretary Beni Prasad Verma on Sunday firmly ruled out the possibility of camping in Rae Bareli to campaign for his son-in-law and party candidate Raj Kumar Chaudhury.
However, he said senior leader Amar Singh, who had opened a front against Congress president Sonia Gandhi, would stay in the constituency.
Talking to newspersons, Verma said the candidate would file his nomination papers on April 18.
He said the responsibility of ensuring Sonia Gandhi’s defeat was on the shoulders of Amar Singh. “We just follow him,” Verma said apparently sarcastically.
He said since he would be on a tour of central UP, he would be able to visit Rae Bareli occasionally.
Not happy with the way the name of the candidate was announced by Amar Singh last week, Verma said it was because the nominee was an ordinary worker.
Not able to provide a bio-data of the candidate, Amar Singh said that he was the son-in-law of Verma. However, Beni Prasad Verma said the people of Rae Bareli were vigilant and would help the SP candidate.
He said the party’s support base had widened during the last assembly election and “people are now unhappy with Sonia Gandhi”.
{{/usCountry}}He said the party’s support base had widened during the last assembly election and “people are now unhappy with Sonia Gandhi”.
{{/usCountry}}Accusing Sonia Gandhi of being anti-farmer, Verma said the party would expose the Congress on secularism. Claiming that she was also anti-Muslim, Verma said it was amply demonstrated on the Iran and Aligarh Muslim University issues.