LUCKNOW: Fighting his first election after ex-PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s death and carrying forward his legacy, Union Home Rajnath Singh filed his nomination papers in state capital Lucknow on Tuesday. Former PM Vajpayee was synonymous to Lucknow which he had represented five times – since 1991 till 2004 -- in Lok Sabha.
The responsibility is huge but the course seems to be a little smooth for Rajnath Singh as the opposition, especially the grand alliance has decided to import an outsider – Poonam Sinha – to challenge Rajnath on traditional BJP turf. Lucknow belongs to SP quota of seats in alliance.
Immediately after Rajnath’s nomination, Samajwadi Party on Tuesday announced the candidature of Poonam Sinha, wife of former BJP MP and cinestar Shatrughan Sinha, from Lucknow. Poonam would be taking the plunge into active politics by contesting from Lucknow against the Union Home Minister. Lucknow would vote in the fifth phase on May 6.
Congress is yet to announce its candidate from the state capital. Recently, there were speculations about senior Congress leader Jitin Prasad fighting from Lucknow but Jitin clarified that he would contest from his traditional Dhaurara seat following Priyanka Gandhi’s diktats.
The Union Minister tweeted on Tuesday morning that he seeks "support and blessings of the people to continue working for them and realise Shri Atalji's dream of making Lucknow a world class city."
In 2014, Rajnath had won the seat by a margin of over 2.72 lakh votes defeating his nearest rival Rita Bahuguna Joshi, then in Congress. Joshi, now a minister in Yogi government, switched sides in 2017 and joined the BJP just ahead of UP Assembly elections. The BSP candidate in 2014 was second runner up while SP candidate Abhishek Mishra had remained fourth in Lucknow.
Ahead of leading a huge road show through roads of posh Hazaratganj from the party office to the collectorate, Rajnath Singh went to Hanuman temple to seek blessings of all deities. Coming out of the temple, Rajnath claimed that the country was witnessing a ‘Modi wave’ again. “I have toured around 10 states recently for poll campaign. This includes Tamil Nadu and Kerala. There also people are enthusiastic about the PM who had brought the nation in the league of top global powers,” said the home minister.
Accompanied by senior BJP leaders and ministers, including both deputy CMs, ministers, veteran party leader Kalraj Mishra, state BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey, KC Tyagi of JD(U), ex-CM of Uttarakhand Ramesh Pokharyal, Vajpayee’s close associate and his representative in Lucknow Shiv Kumar, and BJP leader Sudhanshu Trivedi, Rajnath, atop a truck-turned–rath, led an impressive road show marking the presence of thousands of BJP workers and party supporters.
Notably, CM Yogi Adityanath too had to join Rajnath in his road show and nomination but owing to Election Commission’s 72-hour ban, he could not be a part of it.
A sea of humanity had emerged on all roads leading to collectorate. People carrying BJP flags, shouting slogans, and showering rose petals on Rajnath’s convoy joined his road show meandering through Hazaratgnaj till collectorate.
Vajpayee was Lucknow MP till 2004 when he hanged the boots and the legacy was shifted to his close confidante Lalji Tandon. But in 2014, the party decided to shift Rajnath Singh to Lucknow from Ghaziabad. Tandon is now Bihar Governor.