Cong sweeps Beni under the carpet

On Monday,state Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi said: “Supporting BSP’s Hargobind Singh is his personal decision and I have nothing to say. But the Congress will not support any BSP candidate — that is for sure.” The AICC general secretary,Digvijay Singh,whom Verma claimed to have consulted,said: “I totally deny having had any discussion with him on the issue. We are not taking any cognizance of his action.”

A senior leader said while Verma had indeed caused them embarrassment,he could not be accused of anti-party activity as he is not opposing a party candidate.

That his action is a flagrant violation of the party policy to oppose the BSP is an issue the Congress leaders now want to sweep under the carpet for fear of annoying Verma’s Kurmi community.

But Congress workers are unhappy. “What message will it convey if he is allowed to get away with this? Not saying anything to Beni is as good as giving him a go-ahead,” said a Congress leader in Barabanki.

The BSP candidate claims he had never asked for Verma’s support.

“It was his own decision,” said Hargobind Singh. “Since his own party has not fielded a candidate,his men were going astray. Probably that was why he decided to support me.”

Sources in the BSP say Verma’s statement had,in fact,created problems for Singh. Senior BSP leaders wanted to know why he needed Verma’s help. They also questioned him regarding Verma’s statement that Singh had helped him in the Lok Sabha election and had approached the Congress for ticket for the Legislative Council election.

The SP candidate,Arvind Yadav,claimed that Verma had initially promised to support him,but later changed his mind. “He had told me that his blessings were with me in this election,” Yadav said. “Then he started making false allegations against me. But I respect him as a senior leader and I know he will support me because he has the habit of changing his own statements.”