Home truths: Masoods dare SP brass

Imran’s uncle Rashid Masood,member of the central parliamentary board and SP national vice-president,has also questioned the list of candidates. He said it was announced by the party without the approval of the parliamentary board.

In Saharanpur,the Masoods call the shots and the area is a family pocketborough.

“If the party refuses to accept our demand for fielding Saheb Singh Saini,then I will not contest the election from the Nakur seat. The party will have to consider our point of view,since my family has borne the brunt of the reign of terror unleashed by the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party,” Imran said.

Imran has been given a ticket from Nakur seat,the seat of his choice in the district.

SP sources said Imran is pressing for Saini from Behat for the support of the sizable Saini community in Nakur. The BSP has already announced the name of Dharm Singh Saini,the minister for basic education,for Nakur.

“Come what may,we will not accept the candidature of Umar Khan from the Behat seat,who is an outsider and can never win from that seat .The party should have chosen Saheb Singh Saini,who is a local influential leader of the Sainis,an OBC community.” He added,“Rank and file of the party in the district are stunned by the selection of candidates by the party in Saharanpur and Muzaffarnagar districts. As much as 95 per percent of the Muslim population in both the districts comes under OBC category,yet the three Muslim candidates announced by the party for the two districts are from the upper caste.

“For supporting the SP,I lost the post of chairman of Saharanpur Nagar Palika,my brother is still in jail. My family members including my uncle and I have been booked in dozens of fake cases by police and the civil administration.”

Claiming that the entire party was against the candidates announced for Saharanpur and Muzaffarnagar,Imran said,“We are not opposing the particular candidate in the district,but we are opposed to the manner in which they were selected,as none in the district was consulted by party before releasing the list of candidates to the media.” Rashid said the names should have been announced after the meeting of the parliamentary board. He said he was not consulted even though he is a member of the board.