SP suffers jolt as its 6 corporators join Cong

Kanpur: The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Wednesday suffered a jolt in Kanpur when its six corporators, including Suhail Ahmad left the party and joined the Congress Party before state Congress president Ajay Kumar Lalloo.

Those who left the SP are Suhail Ahmad, who is the leader of Samajwadi Party corporators in Kanpur Municipal Corporation house, Shibboo Ansari, Shashi, Rakesh Sahu, Abid Ali, and Mahendra Pratap Singh. Congress MLA Suhail Ansari was present on the occasion when Suhail Ahmad and others took membership of the Congress Party in Lucknow.

All these corporators come from the Sisamau Legislative Assembly seat. The SP candidate Irfan Solanki had won this seat after defeating the BJP candidate Suresh Awasthi in the 2017 elections.

The switching of loyalty of the SP corporators is a big blow to the party as it is being presumed that it will pose a big challenge to the BJP in the forthcoming Assembly elections.

Talking to TOI, Suhail Ahmad said, “Everybody knows about the status of the Samajwadi Party in Kanpur. Its MLA Irfan Solanki has not done anything for his constituency in the last four years, and no development works were done in Sisamau in the last two decades. Moreover, Solanki’s personal behavior is also questionable”.

Suhail's differences with Irfan Solanki are not new. He had become a rebel in 2017 elections and even filed his nomination from the Sisamau Assembly constituency. But after the interference of religious leaders and strategists, he withdrew his nomination.

According to sources in the Congress party, Suhail Ahmad might get a ticket to contest the election from the Sisamau constituency.

Suhail’s switching of loyalty from SP to Congress would not only make the road difficult for Irfan Solanki but also make election of Sisamau constituency more interesting