INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Kairana:
Begum Tabassum Hasan, the candidate who represented the opposition's hopes for besting the BJP in
another Uttar Pradesh by-poll this year, won from the most-watched Kairana Lok Sabha seat.47-year-old Tabassum Hasan, the Rashtriya Lok Dal
(RLD) candidate, was backed by the Congress, Samajwadi Party and even Mayawati's BSP, which never came out officially in her support.She was
pitted against the BJP's Mriganka Singh, 57, the daughter of parliamentarian Hukum Singh, whose death led to this by-poll
Days before the polls, Tabassum Hasan bagged the support of her brother-in-law, who was contesting as an independent and could have eaten
into her votes."Everyone has come out and supported us
Other parties have supported us too," Tabassum Hasan told TheIndianSubcontinent."We believe in live and let live we meet everyone, sit with
everyone and take everyone along We have done that, and we will continue to do so we live in peace and harmony," she said.She hit out at the
BJP, saying the party and its candidate never talked about real issues
"When it comes to real issues, they have nothing to say They bring up issues like the photos of Jinnah
After all, Jinnah was once from here he was from here
But that changed (after partition)
That is not a real issue the real issue is that of the farmers, the poor on that, they have nothing to say," she said.Tabassum Hasan was
elected to parliament in 2009 as a BSP lawmaker
She joined the Samajwadi Party before ending up in RLD
Her office also has a portrait of her husband Munnawar Hasan, who had represented Kairana both in the state assembly and the Lok Sabha
He died in a road accident in 2008.
