Actor-turned-politician Jaya Prada, who is the BJP candidate from the Rampur Lok Sabha constituency, on Wednesday alleged that powerful people had threatened her before but she was not ‘helpless anymore’ as she had the support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Yogi Adityanath now.

She made the remark while addressing supporters after filing her nomination papers in Rampur on Wednesday.

“I was harassed and threatened by people in power here. But I continued to face all this for the people of Rampur,” Jaya Prada said as she burst into tears.

As the crowd applauded and hailed her, she said, “Par ab main lachar nahin hoon, mere saath Modi ji aur Yogi ji hain (But I am not helpless anymore. I have the support of Modi and Yogi.)”

Jaya Prada had won the Rampur Lok Sabha seat in 2004 and 2009 on the Samajwadi Party ticket but she fell out of favour with the party after her tussle with Azam Khan.

Khan, a nine-time sitting MLA, is also in the fray as a nominee of the SP-BSP alliance. He filed his nomination papers on Tuesday.

Before filing her nomination, Jaya Prada visited a temple in Bhamrao locality of Rampur. She then went to a gurudwara and a dargah before reaching the collectorate at 10.30am.

She was scheduled to file her nomination in the evening but the time was advanced following consultation with a priest, party leaders familiar with the matter said.

Jaya Prada held a meeting with local party workers in the district to plan her election campaign. Polling in Rampur will be held in the third phase on April 23. The returning officers will scrutinise the nominations on Friday (April 5).

FRESH COMPLAINT AGAINST AZAM KHAN

A fresh complaint for making a derogatory speech against the governor was made against sitting Samajwadi Party MLA Azam Khan, the SP-BSP alliance candidate from Rampur, the police said. The complaint came a day after an FIR was lodged against him for making defamatory statements against the local administrative officials.

The fresh complaint, like the previous one, was lodged by local Congress leader Faisal Lala. Superintendent of police, Rampur, Shiv Hari Meena said his office was looking into the compliant and suitable action will be taken if it was found to be true.

First Published: Apr 04, 2019 08:33 IST