For the Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday declared the candidatures of Dinesh Pratap Singh from Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh, and Karan Bhushan Singh from Kaiserganj, the hometown of his father, Brij Bhushan Singh.
The announcement from the saffron party coincides with mounting tension over the Congress candidate for the Lok Sabha constituencies of Amethi and Rae Bareli.
Dinesh Pratap Singh had previously run in the Rae Bareli constituency of the 2019 general elections, but Congress senior leader Sonia Gandhi defeated him.
The announcement from the saffron party coincides with mounting tension over the Congress candidate for the Lok Sabha constituencies of Amethi and Rae Bareli.
The Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council member, who joined the BJP in 2018, said that he and Rae Bareli party activists had spent the previous six months preparing for the election.
He added that the effort they put in would “bring down any bastion.” Singh stated that elevating Raebareli’s history to “new heights” was his top aim.
Following the announcement of his candidature, Dinesh said, “I would like to thank PM modi, Amit shah, JP Nadda and people support….I am not born in gandhi family and know hardwork….not born with silver spoon. ‘Nakli gandhi ki vidai hogi‘ (fake Gandhi will be given a farewell)….whoever will come here from congress will lose…..I have fought against Sonia also, PG and RG not important for me.”
Singh also claimed that he has always supported the locals in their time of need and that the Gandhi family never provided for the needs of the Raebareli people.
Brij Bhushan Singh, the former head of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), has a younger son named Karan Bhushan Singh. Brij’s Kaiserganj seat has been granted to Karan.
The Uttar Pradesh Wrestling Association is led by Karan as its president. Karan has also competed at the national level in shooting aside from this. He studied business management in Australia and finished his degree. Prateek Bhushan Singh, the elder brother of the Lok Sabha contender, is an MLA at the moment.
Notably, Kaiserganj constituency MP Brij Bhushan Singh has served three terms.
Following his son’s candidature announcement, BJP MP Brij Bhushan said, “I thank the party for this. Nomination will be filed tomorrow.” While Karan went to Ayodhya’s Hanuman Garhi temple to offer his prayers. He said, “I came here to seek the blessings of Bajrang Bali. He is my Guru…”
The BJP decided to run Karan from the Kaiserganj seat a few days after a Delhi court rejected MP Brij Bhushan Singh’s request for an additional investigation into the allegations of sexual harassment that female wrestlers had made against him.
On May 7, Rouse Avenue Courts’ Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM), Priyanka Rajpoot, would issue a ruling pertaining to the framing of charges in the case.
In his application, Singh requested more time to submit further charges and to conduct additional investigation. He claimed that he was not in India on the day of one of the instances, in which the complainant claimed to have been harassed at the WFI office.
BrijBhushan Sharan Singh, the MP for Kaiserganj, attempted to place the blame for the delay in announcing his candidature as the BJP’s nominee for the seat last week on the media.
Singh had said, “The worry of the ticket is that of mine. You (media) people need not worry. The announcement of my candidature is getting delayed because of you people.”
The former WFI chief, accused of sexually abusing female wrestlers, an issue that saw the saffron camp on the back foot, had refused to back down.
Brij Bhushan had been on the campaign trail in Kaiserganj earlier in April. He had communicated his “show of strength” and assurance that he would receive the ticket. Since May 20 is election day, a close source of Singh’s had stated that he is optimistic about receiving the ticket.
