Uttar Pradesh: Troubles For SP Increase In Rampur As BJP Gets Congress Supporter Royal Family's Heir Into Its Fold

The heir of the Rampur royal family, Haider Ali Khan joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) days before the Lok Sabha elections scheduled in the constituency for tomorrow (19 April).

This is despite the fact that his grandmother, Begum Noor Bano has extended the support to the Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Maulana Mohibullah Nadvi.

Noor Bano had won the Lok Sabha elections here on a Congress ticket twice, in 1996 and 1999 and has remained in the Congress for all this while. Her husband Zulfiquar Ali Khan won as a Congress candidate here five times.

Noor Bano was the main rival of SP leader Azam Khan but since the latter is in jail and the Congress is in alliance with the SP under the INDI Alliance, she chose to support Nadvi.

This is not the first time when Haider Ali has taken a stance different from his family. He was the lone Muslim candidate of the BJP-led NDA in the 2022 UP Assembly elections.

He contested on an Apna Dal (Sonelal) ticket from Suar, an Assembly segment in Rampur Lok Sabha constituency, but lost to Azam Khan's son Abdullah.

However, when Abdullah lost his seat over a conviction in a case, Apna Dal (S) did not give Haider a ticket for the by-polls after which he left the party and joined the BJP a few days ago.

Suar was represented by Haider's father Nawab Kazim Ali Khan from 2002 to 2017, when he contested as a Congress candidate. However, in 2017, he contested on a BSP ticket and lost.

This time, he has distanced himself from the political affiliations of both his son and mother. He might not even come to vote in Rampur this time as he is in Aurangabad.

The Rampur Lok Sabha seat was won by BJP's Ghanshyam Singh Lodhi in the by-polls after Azam Khan vacated the seat to become an MLA. BJP has fielded Lodhi again from here.

Meanwhile, when Azam Khan's right hand and Rampur's SP president Asim Raza was denied a ticket by Akhilesh Yadav, the local SP cadre had announced the boycott of the elections.

Thus, with half support of the Rampur royal family and half-hearted efforts of the local party cadre, it is going to be difficult for SP's debutant to defeat the sitting BJP MP.