By IANS,
Lucknow : Expressing surprise over her party’s decision to filed her from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi Wednesday said she was contesting elections to carry her late father and former chief minister Hemvati Nadan Bahuguna’s legacy forward.
She said she will win the election with a record margin.
“I had never even had this thought in the faintest of my dreams that Sonia-ji will entrust the responsibility of saving the legacy of Lucknow to me,” Joshi said in a press conference here.
Bahuguna Joshi, who is the Congress’ Uttar Pradesh unit president, said she was banking on the mixed population of this state capital to win.
“The city comprises of middle-class people and intellectuals and is also a mix of diversified culture just like my native place Allahabad. Lucknow has also been the �karmabhoomi’ of my father, late Hemvati Nadan Bahuguna, who had been chief minister of the state,” she added.
“I am here to carry forward the legacy of my father,” she said.
The party announced Bahuguna Joshi’s candidature Tuesday – two days after the Samajwadi Party pitted Nafisa Ali, an actress-turned-social activist who was close to the Congress, as its candidate for the Locknow seat.
The Samajwadi Party earlier wanted film star Sanjay Dutt to contest from here, but the Supreme Court did not permit him to do so, given his conviction in a criminal case.
Asked about the party’s decision to declare her candidature so late, Bahuguna Joshi said: “We had decided not to file any candidate against Sanjay Dutt just as a mark of respect for (his father) late Sunil Dutt. However, as the court denied him permission to contest, there is no point in leaving such an important seat.”
Sunil Dutt, a Congress leader, also served as a central minister.
Bahuguna Joshi alleged that the state’s ruling Bahujan Samaj Party was indulging in the politics of money.
“They (BSP) have no agenda and their candidate, Akhilesh Das, is making all efforts to woo the voters by distributing gifts across the city,” she said.
While Lucknow has traditionally voted for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Bahuguna Joshi said: “This was the seat of (former prime minister) Atal Bihari Vajpayee, not BJP. We all have a lot of respect for Atal-ji and it was after his decision not to contest the elections this time that the party thought of fielding a candidate.”