SP names 165 candidates,sulking party MP lets it rip

He said “rank outsiders and unknown faces’’ had found place in the list. Nobody in the party in Saharanpur (Masood’s home district) knows Umar Khan but he has been given ticket from Behat seat. “I have learnt that his only claim to fame is that he is the son-in-law of Syed Ahmed Bukhari,Imam of Jama Masjid of Delhi,” said Masood.

The list which was announced by state party president Akhilesh Yadav includes some controversial candidates,the main among them being Vijay Mishra,the main accused in the case of bomb attack on minister Nand Gopal Nandi at Allahabad in July last year. Mishra has been fielded from Gyanpur constituency in Sant Ravi Das Nagar district.

The SP list includes 39 sitting MLAs and 63 new candidates. It includes nine women and 30 Muslim candidates. The party,in general,has preferred old loyalists, including former MLAs and even those who had lost in the 2002 and 2007 elections.

Akhilesh Yadav said the second list would be announced very soon.

Denying the SP action was in response to BSP move of finalising several of its candidates,he said early announcement will enable the candidates to run a sustained campaign and give time for the electorate to know them. Prominent among those who figure in the list include leader of Opposition in Assembly Shivpal Singh Yadav from Jaswant Nagar in Etwah district,chief whip of the party in UP Assembly Ambika Chowdhary from Phephna in Ballia district,and former UP Assembly Principal Secretary Rajendra Prasad Pandey from Majhawa seat in Mirzapur district.

Aman Mani Tripathi,son of the sitting SP MLA Amarmani Tripathi,who was convicted in the Madhumita Shukla murder case,has been given ticket from Nautnawa in Maharajganj district. Juhi Singh,daughter of tainted IAS officer and former UP Chief Secretary Akhand Pratap Singh,has been given ticket from Lucknow (East),while Veer Pal Singh Patel,son of dacoit Dadua,has been given ticket from Chitrakoot seat. Dadua was gunned down by the police in 2008.

Shakuntla,wife of party MP Mithilesh Kumar from Shahjahanpur,has been given ticket from Puwayana. Sangram Singh,son of senior party leader Balram Yadav from Azamgarh,has been fielded from Atraulia while Saurabh Swroop,son of former minister Chitranjan Swroop,will be the party candidate from Muzaffarnagar. Nathuni Kushwaha,a BSP leader who joined the SP a week ago,has also found his name in the first list from Khadda in Kushinagar district.

The three more candidates,all sitting MLAs,who found mention in the list late in the evening,include Azam Khan from Rampur,Rajiv Kumar Singh from Dariyabad in Barabanki district and Abbas Ali Zaidi from Rudauli in Faizabad district.