In, out, in, SP’s final Moradabad candidate says: ‘No one can force leadership to give ticket’

There is no end to the troubles for the Samajwadi Party (SP) in Moradabad. Ever since the Lok Sabha ticket allocation for the seat on March 27, when the party controversially denied the nomination to its sitting MP S T Hasan and gave it to former party MLA Ruchi Veera at the last moment, the two leaders have squared off, putting the party’s campaign in jeopardy.

Even after Veera’s nomination papers had been accepted, a letter purportedly written by SP president Akhilesh Yadav had surfaced saying Hasan was the party’s official candidate, adding to the confusion.

Left in the end without a ticket, Hasan had told The Indian Express that he wouldn’t campaign for Veera — who is considered to be a confidant of senior jailed SP leader Azam Khan — even though Akhilesh had asked him to do so.

Hasan also labelled Veera an “outsider” and claimed that she got the ticket after SP president Akhilesh Yadav caved in to pressure from Azam Khan.

Veera says she is not affected by the controversy. “I would like to say that an election ticket can’t be forced on a party’s national leadership. Whatever happened is now in the past. I have been campaigning for the last few days, and I have seen that people from all communities have accepted me. I am confident of winning the election,” said Veera.

Asked about Hasan’s claim that she was given the SP ticket under pressure from Azam Khan, Veera says: “What is wrong in that? Azam Khan Sahab is a senior party leader. I can’t say anything else. I don’t know anything about the discussion between Akhilesh ji and Azam Sahab. All I know is that even Hasan ji got the ticket on Azam Khan’s insistence. It is the party’s top leadership that decides such things.”

On Hasan refusing to campaign for her, Veera says: “He