Former test cricketer and Congress' Lok Sabha candidate from Phulpur Mohd Kaif was shown black flags on Thursday by a group of youth while he was returning from airport.
They were shouting slogans and accusing Congress national leadership of "super-imposing" Kaif ignoring local talent. The protesters, who claimed themselves to be supporters of the Congress, stood at Chaupatka crossing in the city's western part, through which Kaif was supposed to pass on way to his residence from the Bamrauli airport on the outskirts.
Although the protesters waved black flags and raised slogans as the cricketer's vehicle sped through, there was no disruption of traffic or law and order, police sources said.
Kaif, who had a short-lived international cricket career but continues to play for the Kings XI Punjab team in the IPL, is likely to stay here for a few days for electioneering.
The Phulpur Lok Sabha constituency would go to polls on May 7. Local Congress leaders said on condition of anonymity, "no prominent party worker was there among the protesters and the youths appear to have been propped up by disgruntled elements in the city and the district units who might have hoped for a party ticket for themselves".
Famous in history as the seat from where Jawaharlal Nehru got elected to the Lok Sabha, Phulpur has been sending non-Congress candidates to the Parliament since 1989.
The constituency, which earlier comprised predominantly rural trans-Ganga region of Allahabad district, now has more than half of the city's population following the latest delimitation.
It is widely believed that the Congress may have chosen Kaif with an eye on the sizeable Muslim population in the city as well as in the adjoining rural areas, besides young, urban and aspirational voters who may easily identify with the right-hand batsman, who belonged to a lower middle class family and went on to become the tallest cricketer produced by the city.
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