With Uttar Pradesh’s Cabinet minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi set to vacate her Lucknow Cantonment assembly seat after her election to Lok Sabha from Allahabad, some Bharatiya Janata Party leaders have started throwing their hats into the ring as contender for the seat.
A senior leader of the BJP told The Pioneer on Sunday that it was only three days since the result was announced but some leaders had already started backing their candidature for the Lucknow Cantonment seat which Rita Bahuguna Joshi has to vacate within the next six months.
There are many contenders for the seat. They include Suresh Tiwari, the former MLA from Lucknow Cantonment whom Rita had replaced. Prashant Bhatia, son of Lucknow Mayor Sanyukta Bhatia, and Mayank Joshi, son of Rita Bahuguna Joshi, seem to be the front-runners for the seat.
All the three belong to political families. Prashant Bhatia’s father Satish Bhatia was a former MLA and a very popular figure. After his death, his wife Sanyukta Bhatia was roped in by BJP and she was made chairperson of BJP Mahila Committee. In 2017, she was elected as Mayor of Lucknow.
“Prashant Bhatia seems to be a good name and also enjoys the backing of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. But as his mother is the Mayor of Lucknow, it will be difficult for him to get party nod, that too for a seat from Lucknow,” the BJP leader said.
Sources also say that Rita Bahuguna Joshi is putting her weight behind her son Mayank Joshi. She has met senior leaders of the party and pleaded his case.
Suresh Tiwari, a former MLA, is the third contender of the seat. “There is no denying the fact that he is a very popular leader and therefore was elected MLA from Lucknow Cantonment. But he lost favour with BJP leadership after he lost two subsequent elections — in 2007 and 2012,” the BJP leader said, adding that in 2017, Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who joined BJP after quitting Congress, was given ticket and she emerged victorious.
Five bye-elections are expected in UP as five sitting MLAs have won parliamentary elections. They include Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Animal Husbandry Minister SPS Baghel, Khadi Gramodyog Minister Satyadeo Pachauri, Samajwadi Party leader Mohammad Azam Khan and Bahujan Samaj Party leader Ritesh Pandey.
