Rampur Lok Sabha 2019: Azam Khan, Jaya Prada rivalry is not just about politics

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Rampur Lok Sabha 2019: Azam Khan, Jaya Prada rivalry is not just about politics

Analysis done ahead of the polls show Azam Khan having a clear edge over Jaya Prada in Rampur

Monday April 1, 2019 3:12 PM, Zohair M Safwan, ummid.com

Rampur Lok Sabha 2019: Azam Khan of Samajwadi Party (SP) and Jaya Prada, his former colleague in the party who recently switched to Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), will be face to face in Rampur for the first time in a parliamentary election.

Polling in Rampur will be held on April 23 in the 3rd Phase of the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections.

Azam Khan and Jaya Parada both were once very prominent faces of the Samajwadi Party (SP). It was the time when Amar SIngh was master of everything in Mulayam Singh's party. Despite being in the same party, Azam Khan and Amar Singh, and hence Jaya Parada too, never had been on good terms.

Azam Khan had in fact reportedly accused Amar Singh of "blackmailing" Mulayam Singh Yadav using "bollywood heroes and heroins". He also reportedly alleged that Amar Singh was no more than a "middle man" responsible for the political decline of Mulayam Singh and his Samajwadi Party (SP).

The feud between Azam Khan and Amar Singh reached its zenith when audio tapes purportedly of "some" SP leaders surfaced in the media proving allegations levlled against Amar Singh by Azam Khan. This forced Amar Singh to leave Samajwadi Party and float another party. Jaya Prada was naturally with him. The newly floated party could not last longer, also because Amar Singh fell ill.

After a prolonged illness, Amar Singh reappeared in the political arena, this time announcing to side with the BJP. This is how Jaya Prada has been fielded by the BJP from Rampur Lok Sabha seat.

Rampur Lok Sabha Seat

Rampur Lok Sabha seat is one of the Parliamentary seat where Muslim voters are in an overwhelming majority. According to a rough estimate Muslim population in Rampur is more than 41%.

Rampur is the seat from where Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, renowned freedom fighter and first education minister of independent India, contested the first election of the country in 1952 and had won.

The seat is represented by the Congress members except for one term till 1991 when Rajendra Kumar Sharma of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won from here. In 1996 Lok Sabha Elections, Begum Noor Bano of the Congress won from here. She lost the seat to Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi of BJP in 1998 but won again in 1999.

Jaya Prada won from Rampur Lok Sabha seat as Samajwadi Party (SP) twice - in 2004 and 2009 Lok Sabha elections. Azam Khan has been MLA from here and it is said despite differences, he played key role in the victory of Jaya Prada from Rampur.

In 2014 Lok Sabha elections BJP again won from here when Nepal Singh defeated Naseer Ahmad Khan of SP by just over 23,000 votes. However, BJP's victory in the 2014 elections became possible also because of Nawab Kazim Ali Khan of Congress and Akbar Husain of BSP. They respectively got 1,56,466 and 81,006 votes in 2014.

Congress has fielded Sanjay Kapoor from Rampur seat for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Sanjay Kapoor is Congress MLA from Bilaspur assembly seat in Uttar Pradesh.

Analysis done ahead of the polls show Azam Khan, who is contesting a parliamentary election for the first time, having a clear edge over Jaya Prada in Rampur. Azam Khan will also like to win the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Rampur, a defat at the hands of Jaya Prada will be a huge political loss for him. More than political, the loss will also be a humiliation at personal level.

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