The prestigious Lok Sabha constituency of Allahabad, represented in the past by two prime ministers and a megastar, is seeing a battle of political turncoats this election as majority of the main candidates are fighting polls after having switched party allegiance.
Lal Bahadur Shashtri, who served as the second prime minister from 1964-66, had won Allahabad seat in 1957 and 1962, while VP Singh had won it in 1980 and 1988. Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan won the seat in 1984 but resigned before completing his terms. Political heavyweights like Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna, Janeshwar Mishra, Murli Manohar Joshi and Rewati Raman Singh have also represented the seat in Lok Sabha.
With sitting BJP MP Shyama Charan Gupta switching sides and fielded by the Samajwadi Party from Banda, the saffron party has nominated UP minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi from Allahabad. She is facing SP's Rajendra Singh Patel and Yogesh Shukla of the Congress.
Senior Congress leader from Allahabad, Abhay Awasthi, says, the 2019 general elections in Allahabad this year is essentially a "battle of political turncoats".
"The twin Lok Sabha seats of Phulpur and Allahabad have seen titans fighting the poll in the past. From Nehru winning three times from Phulpur to Lal Bahadur Shastri and V P Singh from Allahabad, and then senior BJP leader M M Joshi, winning three times from Allahabad, these two have been very prestigious seats, but big players are not in the fray this time," he told PTI.
But, parties are betting on turncoats in Allahabad constituency, where former Congress leader Rita Bahuguna Joshi is trying her luck, pitted against Congress' Yogesh Shukla, who earlier belonged to the BJP.
While Joshi had unsuccessfully fought Lok Sabha elections in 1999, losing to BJP stalwart MM Joshi and finished third, Shukla was fielded by the BJP in 2009 but faced defeat at the hands of SP's Kunwar Rewati Raman Singh and managed to get only the third position.
Shukla had joined the Congress late April just ahead of filing his nomination, Awasthi said.
"More so, SP's Rajendra Singh Patel fielded from Allahabad this time, was earlier with the JD(U) and had served as its vice-president. So, it is indeed a battle of turncoats of sorts this time for the two seats," he said.
Akshat Lal, a resident of old Allahabad, which falls in Allahabad constituency, said, "From childhood days, we have heard stories of Nehru, Shastri and how the two seats have been considered bellwether constituencies. But, now caste and community equations are major factors in politics."
Lal, a graduate of Allahabad University, says, Allahabad is a city of Sangam, and, with many turncoats in the fray, it seems "politics is getting mixed up here in unusual ways".
Lok Sabha seats of Phulpur and Allahabad fall in the Allahabad district. As many as 14 candidates each are testing their fortunes from the two constituencies in the election here due on May 12.
Allahabad Lok Sabha seat consists of five assembly segments -- Meja, Karachhana, Bara (SC), Koraon (SC) and Allahabad South.
UP is facing a triangular battle between the BJP, the Congress and BSP-SP-RLD alliance. Under the alliance's seat-sharing formula, the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is contesting on 38 Lok Sabha seats of the total 80 seats, Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party on 37 seats and the Chaudhary Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) on three seats. The alliance has left two for Congress' Sonia Gandhi (Rae Bareli) and Rahul Gandhi (Amethi).
In sixth phase of Lok Sabha polling, 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh - Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Phulpur, Allahabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Shrawasti, Domariyaganj, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Lalganj, Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Machhlishahr and Bhadohi - are going for polls.
Of these seats, 13 were won by the BJP in 2014 elections with only Azamgarh going to the Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav.
The counting of votes of the Lok Sabha election 2019 will be conducted on May 23.
(With PTI inputs)
