Cong fields Joshi for hot Lucknow seat

Joshi is daughter of the late Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna,who was elected from Lucknow in 1977 as the Bharatiya Lok Dal nominee,defeating Congress candidate Sheila Kaul. She is a professor of history at the Allahabad University and has authored two books. She was the mayor of Allahabad from 1995 to 2000.

“I am honoured that the party has decided to field me from this seat where once my father had contested. I wanted to contest from Phoolpur,but the party had earlier decided that a state president will not contest,’ Joshi said.

She will be contesting against Lalji Tandon of BJP,Akhilesh Das of the BSP and Nafisa Ali of the Samajwadi Party. Asked about her strengths against the other candidates,Joshi said: “I’m a woman who belongs to the middle class. In a city of employees like Lucknow,I will reach out as a secular face who stands for middle-class aspirations.” She added,“I’m the aam admi face of the Congress,different from others who either represent money or communalism.” Soon after the announcement of Joshi’s candidature,there were celebrations at the state headquarters.

According to sources in the party,Joshi’s name was decided in a party meeting held in Delhi on Monday night. During the meeting,Dr Karan Singh — who had contested against former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1999 — was contacted,but he was unwilling to contest.

In 2004,the Congress had not fielded a candidate from Lucknow. Instead,it supported Ram Jethmalani,who had contested as an Independent. In 1999,Joshi had contested Lok Sabha election from Allahabad and lost.