A 'royal battle’ appears to be on the cards for Amethi with Congress MP Sanjay Singh’s wife and ex-MLA Amita Singh asserting her claim to contest polls from her turf.
The assertion comes despite the Samajwadi Party, the Congress’ ally in Uttar Pradesh, fielding its own controversial leader Gayatri Prajapati from the stronghold.
In a development that makes the fight here a matter of prestige for both the candidates and parties, the BJP added a fresh twist by fielding Garima Singh, the estranged first wife of Sanjay, from the seat.
The ruling Samajwadi Party, which is contesting 298 seats, has given a ticket to sitting MLA and controversial leader Gayatri Prajapati in the Congress bastion, leaving Amita in the lurch. Amita, however, is in no mood to relent and has let it known to her party leadership that she has worked hard in the constituency for long and will not quit the fray.
"Amethi is my family and my home and I cannot leave it...I will contest from here," she said, adding that she had been working hard among the electorate since long and was on a very strong footing.
"I have talked to senior Congress leaders and told them about the ground reality here and have requested them to do the needful as the seat also falls in the parliamentary constituency of party vice president Rahul Gandhi," she said.
Amita minced no words in condemning the BJP for putting up Garima from here.
"BJP has resorted to petty politics leaving seniors out and giving ticket to someone who has no recognition in the region...people here have neither seen her nor has she seen them for years," she said.
"I do not have any worry...all this is BJP's politics after it played the dirty game of snatching the IIIT and Paper Mill (from Amethi)," she said.
BJP fielded Garima from Amethi, ostensibly to reap the sympathy for her and redeem her name and position in the royal family.
Garima was in news when she returned to the family's Bhupati Bhawan palace in Amethi in July, 2014, along with her son Anant Vikram and daughters Mahima and Shaivya, and camped in one portion of the palace for days.
She had also got involved in a bitter battle for control over the family fortunes against Sanjay Singh and his second wife Amita.
Even as Congress preferred to stay out of the family feud, BJP fished in troubled waters by reportedly reaching out to the family in 2016 following which Anant Vikram and his sister Mahima joined the party.
The saffron party is betting on Garima for a bigger battle in 2019 when the party plans to cause a major upset against Rahul Gandhi, something Union minister Smriti Irani has also been working hard for.
Despite losing to the three-term Congress MP, Irani has not severed ties with Amethi and is a regular visitor. She had dented Rahul's victory margin giving BJP hopes that it could make a foray in the Congress stronghold.
Garima happens to be the niece of former PM VP Singh and is a descendant of the royal family of Daiya and enjoys a fair amount of support among locals despite her prolonged absence.
According to locals, the family feud notwithstanding, caste equations in the area favour Prajapati, a backward who has worked hard to carve out a niche for himself in state politics.
Polling for the seat is scheduled in Phase-5 on February 27.
