Samajwadi Party Rajya Sabha member of Parliament Jaya Bachchan could be a candidate for prestigious Lucknow Lok Sabha seat after actor Sanjay Dutt was not allowed by the Supreme court to contest the polls. The SP Parliamentary Board will meet soon to decide on the new candidate for the seat.
Asked whether actress Jaya Bachchan could be a possible replacement, SP general secretary Amar Singh told media-persons in Delhi that "of course, Jaya Bachchan will also be...I will be discussing it with her. She is not an ornament. The way she conducts herself in Parliament, she is a serious person...I will take her advice and I will also talk to party leaders and above all Sanjay Dutt."
Singh, however, maintained a decision will be taken by the SP Parliamentary Board. "I will let you know the decision we take," he added. When asked whether Dutt's wife Manyata would be contesting in his place, Singh said the party would take a decision in this regard. To a question about his personal views on the issue, he shot back: "why should I disclose something which is very personal?"
The Congress has also begun its exercise to gauge the mood of the Lucknow electorate for fielding its nominee from the prestigious seat.
Digvijay Singh, incharge of party affairs in Uttar Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh Congress Committe president Rita Bahuguna Joshi met delegations of advocates and students on Tuesday besides calling on Muslim theologians to sense the mood of the locals for deciding the candidate from Lucknow, which the party had earlier decided to avoid as Samajwadi Party proposed Sanjay Dutt as its candidate.
"There is a general agreement in the party that the candidate from Lucknow should be a local personality of eminence and was well versed in the traditions and its cultural heritage, party sources said. Among the theologians who the Congress delegation called on are noted Shia cleric and vice president of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board Maulana Kalbe Sadiq and Naib Imam of Idgah and senior member of the AIMPLB, Khalid Rasheed Firangimahli, sources said.
These leaders discussed the issues concerning Muslims and what their expectations were from political parties, specially Congress in view of the coming elections, the source said.
