VARANASI
Congress Party finally ends speculations, by fielding Ajay Rai as their candidate from Varanasi for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The New Leam Staff
The congress party has decided to field Ajay Rai as their candidate in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Rai has been fielded against Prime Minister Narendra Modi (BJP).
With the entry of Priyanka Gandhi , the granddaughter of Indira Gandhi and daughter of Sonia Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, there were speculations that Ms. Gandhi might contest the elections from Varanasi.
Ajay Rai won elections in 2009 from Pindara district, Uttar Pradesh as an independent candidate. Rai’s political career began as a student leader from the youth wing of the BJP. He remained committed with the party (BJP) from 1996 and 2007 and won legislative assembly elections in Khosala constituency. He left the party in 2007 to join the Samajwadi Party but couldn’t win election through their party ticket but his political failure led him to leave the party and contest elections independently from Pindara. After which the he then joined the Congress party in 2009.
The 2014 Lok Election was poorly lost by him wherein he had received only 75,000 votes in Varanasi. That time he was contesting the election against Narendra Modi as a Congress party candidate. The 2017 too, the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections were lost by him in the Pindara constituency.
Ever since Priyanka Gandhi joined the Congress party in January there was a rumor of witnessing a blunt face off between Ms. Gandhi and Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha elections. But after introducing Rai as their candidate from Varanasi the Congress Party has put a full stop on all kinds of rumors.
Priyanka Gandhi herself had been giving hints of contesting the elections from Varanasi, as reported by NDTV during an interaction with the media when she was asked whether she will contest from her mother’s constituency Raebareli she gave an instant reply saying “Why not Varanasi”. In her other media interactions she has been replying to the question by giving answers like “I can contest from anywhere”, “If the party asks I will contest from Varanasi”, If Rahul (Congress President) asks I will contest from Varanasi”.
On several occasions she has shown displeasure and dissatisfaction with the work done by the BJP government in Varanasi. Recently during an event where the roads of Bulandshahr were cleaned using water tankers to welcome Modi for a public rally Ms. Gandhi took to twitter to show her displeasure she tweeted “When the entire city of Bulandsher including the men and women, school kids, crops, birds and animals are fighting the calamity of Drought, Water tankers are used liberally just to wash the roads for welcoming the Prime Minister. Who is he? Is he the guard of honor of Delhi or is he the king of an empire?”
जब पूरा बुंदलेखंड, वहाँ के नर नारी, स्कूलों के बच्चे, फसलें और पशु-पक्षी भयंकर सूखे का आतंक झेल रहे हैं हमारे प्रधान प्रचारमंत्री के स्वागत में पीने का पानी टैंकरों से बाँदा की सड़कों पर उड़ेला जा रहा है। यह चौकीदार हैं या दिल्ली से पधारे कोई शहंशाह? pic.twitter.com/LV4IYuwn2g
— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) April 23, 2019
Ajay Rai’s candidature has come as a huge shock for the public and the opposition parties as well. The congress might have ended all speculations but it has put everyone in a conundrum.
