40 millionaires,36 ‘criminals’ contesting in 3rd phase from UP

While Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi will be looking forward to maintain her winning streak in Rae Bareli,the richest candidate in the third phase,Akhilesh Das Gupta of the BSP,is in the race from Lucknow against BJP’s Lalji Tandon.

Gupta is worth around Rs 54 crore.

In the 2004 general elections,the SP alone had grabbed six out of these 15 seats,whereas arch rival BSP won five. The Congress and the BJP won two seats each. However,the contest in Rae Bareli and Lucknow are being keenly watched in the third phase due to their association with the leaders of national importance.

In Lucknow,which has been in the BJP’s kitty after 1991,the prestige of the saffron brigade is at stake this time,with stalwart Atal Bihari Vajpayee opting out of active politics.

However,a tough fight here is likely as BJP’s Tandon is facing stiff resistance Akhilesh Das Gupta of BSP,Congress nominee and UPCC president Reeta Bahuguna Joshi and turncoat Nafia Ali of the SP.

Rae Bareli had been a Congress pocket-borough for the past three decades and Sonia Gandhi had won the seat twice in 1999 and 2004. She had also won 2006 by-election by a margin of over four lakh votes.

This time SP had not fielded its candidate against the Congress president,however,BSP candidate is RS Kushwaha while RB Singh has entered the fray on the BJP ticket.

Adjacent to Lucknow is the Mohanlalganj reserved parliamentary constituency from where R K Chaudhary,a former lieutenant of BSP’s founder Kanshiram who has floated his own outfit,is posing a serious challenge to BSP candidate Jai Prakash Rawat.

A sitting MLA,Chaudhary,who was initially in the BSP and held cabinet minister rank in the previous Mayawati government,left the party following his differences with the supremo and floated his own outfit Rashtriya Swabimaan Party.

Barabanki,which also shared its boundary with the state capital,is witnessing a four-cornered contest involving a former bureaucrat P L Punia.

Punia,who is contesting as a Congress candidate,was once the most trusted officer of BSP supremo Mayawati. Others in the fray are BSP’s sitting MP Kamla Rawat,Ram Sagar Rawat of the SP and BJP nominee Ram Naresh Rawat.

The most high-profile battle is being fought in Fatehpur,where off-springs of two former Prime Minister – V P Singh and Lal Bahadur Shastri are engaged in a face off. While Ajeya Singh contesting as Jan Morcha candidate is son of V P Singh,the Congress nominee Vibhakar Shastri is grandson of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri.

From here,the SP has fielded Rakesh Sachan,who has seven criminal cases against him,whereas the BSP has reposed its faith in sitting MP Mahendra Prasad Nishad.

In Kanpur,prestige of Congress leader and Union Minister Shriprakash Jaiswal,who is on a hat-trick trail,is at stake. Jaiswal,who has won the seat twice in 1999 and 2004,is facing tough contest from Sukhda Mishra of BSP,BJP nominee Satish Mahana and SP candidate Surendra Mohan Agarwal.

Sukhda Mishra has won assembly elections several times and is considered as a BJP heavyweight. Of the 40 millionaires in fray,the BJP has fielded maximum nine candidates,followed by the BSP,the SP and the Congress with eight nominees each.

Among women candidates,the Congress nominee from Unnao Anu Tandon is the richest with total assets valuing around Rs 26 crore,whereas Congress president Sonia Gandhi has net worth of around Rs 1.36 crore.