SP, RLD release first list of 29, field 9 Jats & 9 Muslims

LUCKNOW: Putting their bet on the belief that farmers’ agitation in western UP has narrowed down the rift between

Jats

and Muslims created by 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, Samajwadi Party and RLD kept the focus on Jats and Muslims in the first list of 29 candidates that the two parties jointly released on Thursday.

Apart from trying to bridge the gap between the two communities, the two parties have accommodated at least three turncoats who sided with them recently. They are four-time MLA and Congressman Gajraj Singh who is the RLD candidate from Hapur and BJP MLA Avtar

Singh Bhadana

who is an RLD candidate from Jewar. Congressman Pankaj Malik is SP candidate from Charthawal.

The two parties have fielded a total of nine Jat and nine Muslim candidates in the list of 29. Leading the list of Jats is Pankaj Malik, who switched over from Congress to SP in October last. RLD has fielded seven Jats, including Pradeep Chaudhary from Sadabad,

Preetam Singh

from Gowardhan, Brijesh Chahar from Fatehpur Sikri, Rautan Singh from Khairgarh and Prasan Chaudhary from Shamli.

The list of nine Muslim candidates include

Shahid Manzoor

and sitting MLAs Rafiq Ansari and Nahid Hasan as SP candidates from Kithore, Meerut Sadar and Kairana, respectively. Chaudhary Nahid Hasan is a sitting SP MLA from Kairana and had won the 2017 polls defeating BJP’s Mriganka Singh despite the saffron birgade’s campaign on ‘Hindu exodus’ ahead of the polls. Shahid Manzoor is a three-term MLA from Kithore and was a minister in the Akhilesh cabinet.

Rafiq Anasari

is from Meerut.

SP has retained its sitting MLA Chaudhary Aslam from Dhaulana. RLD has fielded its former block Pramukh Haji Yunus from Bulandshahr. He was in news recently after a murderous attack on his motorcade.

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