Date:11/01/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/11/stories/2009011160300800.htm

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If not Sanjay, then his wife can contest: SP

Gargi Parsai

NEW DELHI:Charging the Congress with failing to reach an understanding with it on seat sharing, the Samajwadi Party (SP) on Saturday released its second list of 17 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections. With this the party has announced candidates for 46 of a total of 80 Parliamentary seats in Uttar Pradesh.

The party also said that if actor Sanjay Dutt was ineligible to contest elections because of legal issues, then the party might field his wife Manyata.

Mr. Dutt was named on Thursday the party’s candidate from Lucknow that is presently represented by the former Prime Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader, Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Announcing the candidates, party’s general secretary and spokesman Amar Singh accused the Congress of “betraying the coalition dharma” and claimed that the SP had “not touched” the seats in which the Congress wanted to field its own candidates.

However, in the second list, the SP has nominated the former BJP MP, Brijbhushan Sharan Singh from Kaiserganj, who had joined the party before the July 22 confidence vote in Parliament. The Congress wanted this seat for suspended SP MP Beni Prasad Verma.

On the announcement of sitting MP Jaya Prada’s name for the Rampur seat which the Congress wanted for Noor Bano, Mr. Singh said the latter’s son was contesting from there on a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket, therefore it was unlikely that the mother would fight her son.

Coalition to go on

“We have had three meetings with the Congress coordination panel but ever since we started supporting the ruling coalition some middle-level Congress leaders have repeatedly insulted us. This kind of behaviour on the part of Congress is against coalition dharma, but still we want our coordination to continue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.”

On Sanjay Dutt, he said doubts were being raised about his eligibility but the party would approach the court as was done in the case of Navjot Siddhu (whose conviction was stayed). “Navjot has already spoken to Sanjay. In case Sanjay does not get permission to contest then I will request him and my party to allow his wife Manyata to contest in his place,” he said.

The second list contains names of three sitting MPs — Usha Verma (Hardoi-SC), Shailendra Kumar (Kaushambi-SC) and Parasnath Yadav (Jaunpur).