In fresh setback for Congress in UP, Ajay Kapoor joins BJP despite being a shoo-in for LS ticket

PCC president Ajay Rai alleges pressure was put on AICC secy via probe agencies. A 3-term ex-MLA, Kapoor was frontrunner for Kanpur Nagar seat

Written by Maulshree Seth
Lucknow | Updated: March 14, 2024 04:46 AM IST

3 min read

Unlike other leaders who have left the party in the recent past, after it seemed unlikely that they would get tickets, Kapoor's decision comes at a time when the Congress was considering him for the Kanpur Nagar seat. (ANI)

In a fresh setback to the Congress in Uttar Pradesh, its veteran leader and probable candidate for the Kanpur Nagar Lok Sabha seat, Ajay Kapoor, 56, left the party to join the BJP on Wednesday. Kapoor, who has been with the Congress for over three decades and has represented it thrice in the state Assembly — besides having served on various party posts over three decades — was the serving AICC secretary and co-in-charge of Bihar.

Unlike other leaders who have left the party in the recent past, after it seemed unlikely that they would get tickets, Kapoor’s decision comes at a time when the Congress was considering him for the Kanpur Nagar seat. Sources said his name was recommended during the party’s recent state election committee (SEC) meeting in Lucknow.

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Congress state president Ajay Rai claimed that investigating agencies were misused to put pressure on Kapoor and his family. “We have come to know that recently some raids were conducted on his relatives in Kanpur, and that his family was being pressured. The fact that he has joined under pressure can be ascertained from the fact that there was no smile on his face at the time of his joining the BJP. Anyone can see that in the video,” Rai told The Indian Express.

As per Rai, this also proved that the BJP is “falling short of candidates to field, and is banking on Congress defectors”. “Those who were shouting ‘Congress Mukt Bharat’ slogans are now making ‘Congress Yukt BJP’ by drawing in Congress leaders to strengthen their party.”

Kanpur Nagar is one of the 17 Lok Sabha seats allotted to the Congress in its alliance with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh. Till now, veteran leader Sriprakash Jaiswal used to contest on this seat. A former Union Minister during the UPA regime, he is not contesting this time due to ill-health, sources said, because of which the name of Kapoor, who has a good base in Kanpur, came up at the party’s recent SEC meeting, along with some others.

Between 2002 and 2012, Kapoor has represented different Assembly seats in Kanpur thrice. He won for the first time in 2002 from the Govindnagar Assembly segment, securing 56% of the votes polled, against the BJP’s Balchandra Mishra. In 2007, he retained the seat, securing about 1.10 lakh votes against the BJP’s Hanuman Mishra. In 2012, he narrowly won the newly created Kidwai Nagar Assembly seat against the BJP’s Viveksheel Shukla.

While he lost to the BJP’s Mahesh Trivedi the last two Assembly elections, in 2017 and 2022, Kapoor is seen as a strong contender still, having secured around 77,000 votes each time.

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A source said names of some other leaders, including that of Ashok Mishra, had been recommended along with Kapoor’s.