Giving a major shock to the Congress Party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, senior Congress leader Rashid Alvi has opted out if the election race. Alvi, whose name was announced by the Party for the Amroha Parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh, has withdrawn his candidature.
Congress has replaced Alvi with another candidate Sachin Chaudhary who will now contest election from the Amroha seat. Alvi while withdrawing his candidature reportedly cited some personal reasons. However, according to some reports, Alvi was reluctant to contest from the Amroha seat fearing his defeat. Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded sitting MP Kanwar Singh Tanwar from the Amroha seat while the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has fielded Danish Ali, who was general secretary of Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) before joining BSP, as its candidate.
Replacing Rashid Alvi with Sachin Chaudhary can also be part of a strategy to ensure that minority vote is not divided between the Congress and BSP candidates. Many people doubt a secret understanding between mahagathbandhan and Congress party, and this could be an example of the same.
Rashid Alvi who has also served as the spokesperson of the Congress Party, has been a member of Lok Sabha from the Amroha Parliamentary constituency between 1999-2004. He has also been elected as the member of Rajya Sabha for two terms from Andhra Pradesh. Alvi had joined the Congress Party after he was expelled from the BSP in 2004 by its Chief Mayawati on the allegations of taking bribes for allotting party tickets.
