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NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to dispel all speculations surrounding the candidature for the high-profile Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat, with plans underway to finalise and announce the candidate by the end of this week.With the seat heading to the polls on May 20th as part of the fifth phase, the BJP, sensing favourable conditions, has already narrowed down its selection to three potential candidates for the constituency.Sources within the BJP have hinted that the ‘wait and watch’ stand of the party is likely to come to an end.Speaking to TNIE on Tuesday, a senior BJP functionary said, “Whether Congress makes anyone its candidate or not, we are going to declare our candidate soon (Congress kisi ko apna umidvar banay ya na banay, ham log apna umidvar ghosit karne ja rahe hai jaldi).”Rae Bareli, historically a stronghold of the Congress party, has been represented by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on three occasions and former AICC president Sonia Gandhi since 2004. However, Sonia Gandhi’s election to the Rajya Sabha in February this year has opened the possibility for another member of the Gandhi family to contest from the Congress pocket borough.According to an earlier report by TNIE, Congress sources said the party is likely to field Rahul Gandhi from Rae Bareli, while Priyanka Gandhi Vadra may not contest this year’s Lok Sabha elections.In the 2019 election, Sonia Gandhi received 5.34 lakh votes, defeating the BJP’s Dinesh Pratap Singh, who garnered 3.67 lakh votes. In the 2014 election, despite the purported “Modi wave,” Sonia Gandhi was elected by a significant margin, securing 5.26 lakh votes compared to the BJP candidate Ajay Aggarwal’s 1.73 lakh votes.Notably, in its electoral past, Rae Bareli has only chosen two non-Congress candidates: Raj Narain of the Janata Party in 1977 and Ashok Singh of the BJP, who won the seat in 1996 and 1998.Amid the continuing suspense from Congress, BJP sources have suggested that Rae Bareli MLA Aditi Singh has emerged as the potential frontrunner among other candidates for the LS seat. Aditi, a two-time MLA from Rae Bareli, carried the seat as a Congress candidate in 2017 before switching to the BJP in 2021. She retained her seat as a saffron party candidate in the 2022 UP Assembly elections. Belonging to an influential political family, Aditi holds an MBA degree from Duke University in the United States. Her father, AK Singh, once a member of Congress, was a multi-time MLA from the Rae Bareli seat.“She (Aditi) could be a potential candidate for this LS seat because she had been with the Congress before joining the BJP. She is a good orator and has always been at odds with Congress during his association on various issues related to national interest,” said a BJP source.It’s worth noting that Aditi frequently diverged from the Congress party lines in matters of national interest, including supporting the decision to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special status in 2019.Another prominent name being considered for the Rae Bareli seat is Dinesh Pratap Singh, who contested against Sonia Gandhi in the previous Lok Sabha elections. Despite not winning the seat, he garnered the highest number of votes among all BJP candidates who have contested from this constituency in the past, with 3.67 lakh votes.”He (Dinesh) is a popular leader of the hardcore Hindutva ideology.He had donated a huge amount of Rs 1.21 crore for the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodha,” a BJP source said. The third and final name under consideration is Brajesh Pathak, who is currently serving as one of the Deputy Chief Ministers in the state alongside Keshav Prasad Maurya. Pathak has previously served as the Member of Parliament from the Unnao Lok Sabha seat from 2004 to 2009 and as a Rajya Sabha member from 2008 to 2014.
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BJP identifies three potential candidates for Rae Bareli amid Congress’ suspense
