On the day of polling for the first phase of Uttar Pradesh elections, Union steel minister Beni Prasad Verma could not resist the temptation of pulling down party MP PL Punia a few notches by describing him as an “outsider from Punjab”.
Punia, who hails from Punjab, is a former Uttar Pradesh cadre IAS officer and won the Barabanki Lok Sabha (SC) seat in 2009 with a margin of more than 1.5 lakh votes. Verma’s son is a Congress candidate from one of the assembly segments in Barabanki, and the two leaders are jostling for importance.
The clash is largely representative of the Kurmi-Dalit turf war between them, and so the Congress is playing down this open factionalism. “When a party is edging closer to power such clashes do occur. This only means that we are getting closer to victory in Uttar Pradesh,” said party spokesperson Rashid Alvi.
Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh also asserted that this is not an issue for any controversy. “All of us have come from some state or the other. Besides, after his election victory, there is no question of his being an outsider,” he said.
However, there is more of sarcasm than political reality in Alvi’s observation, when viewed in the context of the other protests against Verma. Besides, any clash between Verma and Punia at this stage for any position of power in the state is almost like a struggle for a crown that has not been won as yet.
Insiders point out that Punia has not been happy with the choice of candidates in his parliamentary constituency and the extra importance given to Verma. On the other hand, Verma is apprehensive of internal sabotage against his son, and has thus chosen to target the MP.
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