Cong plays the Son against SP’s ‘don’

Congress candidate Ratna Singh had lost in three of the five Assembly segments during the last polls, but she gained a lead of nearly 80,000 votes from Rampur Khas, the Assembly segment from where Tiwari is being elected for the last seven terms. Ratna is again banking on that charisma.

The Congress and the BSP have lodged a complaint with the EC that Raja Bhaiyya is using the jail as an election office for his cousin Akshay Pratap Singh. The EC has asked jail authorities to camp near the premises and a jammer is in place to block cellphone calls.

While Akshay solely depends on the mass appeal of his cousin, Ratna, a scion of the erstwhile Kalakankar estate, has got the last-minute boost in her campaign with Rahul touring parts of the constituency.

Running almost five hours behind schedule, Rahul drew the crowd as people waited several hours for his arrival.

This was the first road show for Rahul outside Amethi and the response from the locals was ecstatic. ‘‘He waved and shook hands with me. This moment can hardly be forgotten,’’ said 22-year-old Manosh. Ratna should hope the euphoria lasts at the time of polling.

‘‘Sabse uttam, sab par bhari, aapki Ratna Rajkumari (The best and above all, your princess Ratna)’’ — a poster appeals to the people but the response is lukewarm. Pratapgarh has become a pocket borough of the scions of the royal families. The seat has gone to Kalakankar estate seven times (her father Dinesh Singh represented it five times) and now again Ratna is in the fray,’’ said BJP leader K.K. Singh.

The BSP and the BJP have failed to leave an impact on the masses so far.