MLA Aditi Singh’s silence clouds BJP’s fortunes in Rae Bareli elections

MLA Aditi Singh’s silence clouds
BJP’s fortunes in Rae Bareli elections

With Rae Bareli acknowledged as a bastion for Congress, the party, in a bid to retain its stronghold, has fielded Rahul Gandhi as its candidate.
This place holds equal importance for BJP and the contest here has turned to be a litmus test for the party.

Even as Minister of state Dinesh Singh being a BJP candidate and is contesting for the second time from this constituency, yet political circles are buzzing with unease due to the conspicuous absence of BJP’s Rae Bareli Sadar MLA, Aditi Singh, from the electoral fray giving the party’s election campaign a body blow.

In 2019, Congress had won only one seat in Rae Barelli. Last time, the BJP won Amethi and this time it had plans to free Rae Bareli from the clutches of Gandhi Parivar and the Congress.

As a strategy, BJP first inducted Congress MLA Aditi Singh in the party fold. She contested and won the 2022 assembly elections on a BJP ticket, and was seen as a crucial asset for the BJP’s electoral prospects.

Furthermore, in a political coup in December, the BJP secured the allegiance of Manoj Pandey, a former SP MLA, who defected to BJP and supported the party’s candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections. Pandey, based out from Unchchar in Rae Bareli, added to BJP’s electoral arsenal. With two sitting MLAs from Rae Bareli in its fold, BJP harbored hopes of a victory.

However, both Singh and Pandey have maintained an unexpected silence, presenting a formidable challenge for BJP’s electoral ambitions in the region.

News Edit K.V.Raman