Kamalapati Tripathi's great grandson gives Congress hope

ROBERTSGANJ: ”Jisko bhi ladna hai, Lalitesh se ladna padega (anyone who wants to contest, will have to fight against Lalitesh only),” Pardesi, a tribal Kol community daily wage labourer in his 30s, said on his way back from his day’s labour at Marihan in Mirzapur district. It’s only later that he adds that Lalitesh is a sitting Congress MLA from Marihan assembly segment in Mirzapur district. As they share a mixture of roaster parboiled rice and roasted peanuts on their way back home after their daily grind, every one of Pardesi’s fellow Kol community members endorse his views, adding a bit of their own version to it.

Incidentally, they do not invoke Rahul Gandhi or Sonia Gandhi or MGNREGA or Rahul’s Kisan Yatra or anything else to explain their electoral preference, except Lalitesh’ approachable grassroot connect.

“We are rooting for Akhilesh, but if there’s an alliance with Congress, then we will more than happily vote for Lalitesh,” said Mandela Yadav, who is in his 30s, in Deepnagar market in Marihan assembly segment. Others from different communities lavish praise on Lalitesh while hanging out with Yadav at a bonfire to beat the chill before they retreat to their homes as the market was closing down late in the evening.

This comes as a huge surprise in a region -- Pratapgarh, Allahabad, Kaushambi, Mirzapur districts – where respondents aren’t even interested in giving Congress a chance in the UP assembly elections. You can hear of the ruling SP, rivals BJP and BSP but rarely would you hear a mention of Congress except in Rae Barel, which happens to be Sonia Gandhi’s Lok Sabha constituency.

Lalitesh Pati Tripathi, it turns out, is great grandson of former UP chief Minister Kamalapati Tripathi, who as the working president of Congress in early 80s, had inducted Rajiv Gandhi as the Congress general secretary before they fell out in late 80s after Gandhi came to power.

Incidentally, none rooting for Lalitesh invoked Kamalapati Tripathi to justify their preference for Lalitesh. Lalitesh, who went to school in Canada and Delhi, was a software sales professional before turning to politics after 2009 before contesting the 2012 assembly elections. While his Kurmi and Kol dominated electorate in Marihan finds him easy and approachable, it is Indira’s audio speech that greets you as his caller tune if you have to contact him on phone.

Incidentally, Lalitesh was brought into the electoral rough and tumble by Rahul Gandhi ahead of the 2012 assembly elections. Lalitesh won the elections and also unsuccessfully contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections against Anupriya Patel in Mirzapur Lol Sabha segment which has a sizeable Kurmi and tribal Kol communities.