Beni calls Punia outsider
Even as the first phase of polling was underway in UP, rift within Congress came to the fore with senior party leader and Union steel minister Beni Prasad Verma dismissing his fellow MP from Barabanki, PL Punia, as an outsider. Speaking to reporters in Barabanki, Verma said Punia had come from Punjab. "This is our area (a reference to Barabanki parliamentary constituency) only and we are winning all the six seats," he added, in what is being seen as an attempt to underline Punia's irrelevance in ensuring a win for the grand old party in the constituency.