UP BJP elated over joining of Rita Bahuguna Joshi: Gives an added Brahmin face in UP polls

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party got a shot in its arm after former UP Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi joined BJP the move seen as a counter to Congress attempt to lure Brahmin votes projecting Shiela Dixit as Chief Minister. “She is a big leader of UP. Her joining BJP will definitely make an impact in Uttar Pradesh and will help party to win 300+ seats,” BJP state general secretary Vijay Bahadur Pathak said here today. Pathak said that Rita Bahuguna Joshi has an influence over people from Uttarakhand who live in Lucknow and adjoining areas. Her joining BJP will help party to make inroads into that vote bank, he said.

The catch is a big boost for BJP as politically it will be a counter to Congress move to lure Brahmin votes just before crucial assembly elections. Congress has projected Shiela Dixit as party’s CM face, but with Rita Bahuguna Joshi joining BJP steam has gone out of Congress’ sail. Daughter of former UP Chief Minister HN Bahuguna, Rita Bahuhuna Joshi is the former Mayor of Allahabad. The former UPCC president had recently met BJP national president Amit Shah fuelling speculations about her switching flanks. Joshi is a sitting Congress MLA from Lucknow Cantonment Assembly seat. However, she has resigned from the seat after joining the BJP today. ``Its a win-win situation for Rita Bahuguna Joshi because Samajwadi Party has fielded Mulayam's daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav from Lucknow Cantonment constituency. She cannot win this election on Congress ticket.

So BJP is the only option left for her,” said a senior leader. There is a sense of elation in BJP that way Rita Bahuguna Joshi, in her parting shot had attacked Rahul Gandhi calling him `non-performing’ leader and praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying the country needs leaders like him. The air was pregnant with speculation about her joining BJP for the last many days, but the possibility was kept under wraps with senior Congress saying she was loyal to Gandhi family and will not leave party at any cost. She betrayed the loyalty when she threw punches at Rahul Gandhi saying: “His (Rahul’s) leadership was acceptable to none. Sonia ji used to listen to us, but that is not happening under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi. He has outsourced the entire party to PK overnight," Ms Joshi had said after joining BJP in New Delhi. Her vitriol against Congress is a reflection of her frustration after she was sidelined in the party. In 2012 assembly election Rahul leads the campaign and she was behind him. After the poll debacle, she being state president, was left alone to fend herself facing the barb.

Her stock in the party fell after her brother and former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Vijay Bahuguna joined the BJP. But Congress on the other hand did not spare a word to attack Ms Joshi even terming her a traitor, which is in the DNA of her family. UP Congress legislature party leader Pradeep Mathur said here that though the defection would bit at all affect the party, but such move only proves that the DNA of the family is questionable. "It was eminent that she will join the BJP once her brother Vijay Bahuguna of Uttarakhand joined the BJP even after Congress made him the CM ," he alleged.

Rita's exit will not harm Congress: Babbar

Uttar Pradesh Congress president Raj Babbar today claimed that exit of Rita Bahuguna Joshi from the party will not hamper its prospect in Uttar Pradesh assembly polls. "Congress has given so much to Rita Bahuguna Joshi and her family members but still she left the Party to join communal forces. It will have no affect on Congress’s prospect in the coming elections”, Babbar asserted while reacting to former state president joining the BJP. ``Rita and her family has a history of changing loyalty”, he said in a statement here. Mr Babbar said just a few days back, he denied that Ms Joshi was leaving the Congress and that she was ill. ``Congress and it’s leadership is very sensitive and respect the version of our leaders. When media and everyone else were saying that Ms Joshi is leaving us, she denied it to the senior leaders and said that she was suffering from asthma hence she had switched off her phones and we believed her”, replied Mr Babbar while clarifying his earlier claims.

Mr Babbar also reacted strongly to Ms Joshi’s claim that she was upset with party vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s remark ''khoon ki dalali’ and the party going into the hands of poll manager Prashant Kishore hence she quit the Party. ''It is completely wrong. Mr Gandhi spoke what he learnt through martyr Babloo’s family and his sentiments were wrongly quoted. Babloo’s family claimed that the politicians were just doing `politics’ over the martyr’s and that is what he has said,'' claimed Mr Babbar,adding that Mr Gandhi only spoke the truth about what the martyr’s family think about politicians. About PK also, Mr Babbar claimed that he was doing his job very well and Ms Joshi’s exit was because she wanted to serve her personal interest. About Mr Gandhi not giving due consideration to her, Mr Babbar said the vice-president was bringing in democracy and heard everyone. Only those leaders (without taking Rita’s name), who was working with selfish motive, were not happy with Mr Gandhi, Mr the actor-turned-politician claimed.

Mr Babbar also reacted very strongly that like Ms Joshi, he too will quit the party. ``I want to make this very clear to you(media person) that I never left any party (SP) but was removed. I always stood for socialism for which I was kicked off and now a leader (read chief minister) is too raising the same point which I raised ”, Mr Babbar said. Interestingly Babbar also said that it is not for the Congress to worry about Ms Joshi’s exit but for the BJP to keep their house in order. ``A local MP from Lucknow in whose constituency Ms Joshi was also a MLA was not seen present during her joining”, he said while pointing that there was resentment within the BJP over Ms Joshi’s joining. AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is also incharge of Party affairs here in UP, termed Ms Joshi an ''opportunist''. ''Those who were just in search of opportunity never stay at one place and Ms Joshi and her family had a history of always looking for opportunity and switching loyalty,'' he replied. (UNI)