GHAZIABAD: Quelling speculations over its choice of candidate for the Ghaziabad Lok Sabha seat, the BJP in a meeting on Wednesday clarified that party president and sitting MP Rajnath Singh will contest the 2014 general elections from the constituency. The announcement has been made in the light of recent conjectures by rival political parties - particularly after Singh was elevated to the post of party president - that BJP would field a fresh candidate from Ghaziabad.
Singh, a former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, had been elected to the Lok Sabha from Ghaziabad in the 2009 general elections after defeating his nearest rival, the Congress candidate Surendra Prakash Goel, by a margin of over 90,000 votes.
The BJP unit in Ghaziabad informed that ever since Singh was elected national president in January, rival political parties had launched systematic campaigns against him, fabricating theories that he would no longer contest from Ghaziabad.
"These rumours have been floated to wean away his vote base from the region. Opponents have developed cold feet over the prospect of Singh playing a major role at the centre if BJP forms the government after the general elections," said SP Singh, BJP (Mahanagar), Ghaziabad. "That's why Singh's name has been sealed for Ghaziabad well ahead of formally declaring the list for Uttar Pradesh," he added.
The BJP said chances of Singh moving out from Ghaziabad are even more remote because the party is looking ahead to increase its tally in western UP, including re-gaining the parliamentary seat of Gautam Budh Nagar, which had remained in the party's kitty continuously from 1991 to 2009. In 2009, BSP candidate Surendra Nagar had trounced BJP's Dr Mahesh Sharma to win the Gautam Budh Nagar seat.
Though BJP functionaries remained tight-lipped about the choice of their candidate for Gautam Budh Nagar, party sources informed that Rajnath's son, Pankaj Singh, is being considered to make his electoral debut from this seat.
As per sources, Pankaj Singh might be fielded in Gautam Buddh Nagar to consolidate on the overwhelming Thakur vote bank in the constituency.
"Besides, the party is also trying to cash in on the youth appeal of Pankaj Singh in Noida and Greater Noida," said a senior BJP member.
Rajnath Singh will contest again from Ghaziabad Lok Sabha seat
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Rajnath Singh will contest again from Ghaziabad Lok Sabha seat
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Rajnath Singh will contest again from Ghaziabad Lok Sabha seat
