Cong, SP, BSP, back to Congress: Imran Masood set to rejoin party

Congress leaders said Masood’s re-entry would give the party an edge in the Saharanpur area at a time when the parties in the INDIA bloc of Opposition parties are mulling over entering seat-sharing negotiations for the Lok Sabha elections. The party benefits because it does not have a Muslim leader of his stature in west UP.

Asked what his role would be in the party and if he would contest the parliamentary elections, the 52-year-old said, “My first task will be to strengthen the Congress in west UP. As for other roles, I will accept whatever the party leadership decides for me.”

Known for speaking his mind — be it in favour of an alliance with the SP when he was in the Congress, or suggesting that the BSP should join the INDIA bloc when he was in Mayawati’s party — Masood is also an advocate of statehood for west UP, much like BJP leader Sanjeev Balyan who raised the demand earlier this week.

“My demand has got nothing to do with anyone else’s. My workers and I have been demanding west UP as a separate state for two decades. We have also been demanding a High Court bench for a long time, as till now, we have to go all the way to Lucknow or Allahabad for court appearances. But this hasn’t happened. It is an injustice to the people of western UP that can only be corrected if it becomes a separate state,” Masood said, adding that he would not hesitate to raise this demand after joining the Congress.

Sources in the Congress said Masood left the party last year because he failed to secure tickets for his close associates. He then joined the Akhilesh Yadav-led SP saying it was the only party that could actually defeat the BJP in UP, or at least put up a fight. But believing that the party was not giving him importance, he drifted towards the BSP, which appointed him its west UP convener and gave him the additional responsibility of reaching out to the minority community in Uttarakhand.

But when Masood praised Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi over the Congress’s role in the INDIA bloc and advocated that BSP should also be a part of the alliance, he was expelled from the party over accusations of indiscipline.
Speech against Modi.

Masood came into the limelight in 2014 after a viral video clip showed him threatening then prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi during an election speech in Saharanpur and blaming the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for the Muzaffarnagar riots in 2013.

Although Masood lost the electoral battle to the BJP, he was subsequently on the radar of all political parties in the region. A case of hate speech was registered against him after the BJP came to power. Five years later, Saharanpur witnessed a triangular fight won by the BSP’s Hazi Fazrul Rehman (with 5.14 lakh votes) against incumbent MLA Raghav Lakhan Pal (with 4.19 lakh votes), Masood still managed to get about two lakh votes. It is this popularity and influence over minority votes in and around Saharanpur that the Congress, whose vote share fell to 2% in the 2022 Assembly polls — hopes to utilise.