HOSHIARPUR, Jan 2: With the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) announcing that party chief Kanshi Ram would contest from this Parliamentary seat again, the local Congress seems to be headed for a split.Kamal Chowdhary, three-time winner on the Congress ticket and a hot favourite with the party, is likely to join the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Highly placed sources in the BJP confided that Chowdhary might become the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP candidate from this constituency in the forthcoming elections. If the deal clicks, a large scale exodus from Congress is expected.
Chowdhary when contacted, did not rule out joining the BJP. He said that he was gauging the mood of his supporters as well as the electorate and added that most of them wanted him to seek entry into the BJP. Chowdhary won this seat even when the Congress lost elsewhere in the State. He won this seat in 1985, 1989 and 1992.
In the last elections, he lost by a narrow margin to Kanshi Ram, who was then supported by the SAD. This time, however, Kanshi
Ram would have a more formidable rival in the form of a SAD-BJP alliance.
For Chowdhary too, the prospects are favourable as he is literally at cross roads.
If he contests as an independent, he can but play spoil sport for both the BSP and SAD-BJP combine, thus helping Kanshi Ram win from this constituency.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
