Dinesh Pratap Singh, a former Congress MLC and influential figure in UP politics, left the great old party in 2018 to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) .
With 24 hours left before the deadline for nominations for the Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party has announced Dinesh Pratap Singh from Rabareili, Gandhi turf in Uttar Pradesh, as its candidate
Although a well-known figure in Uttar Pradesh politics, Dinesh Pratap Singh is little known in the rest of India. But the BJP has now given him the onus to wrest away Raebareli, Gandhi’s turf – a seat held continuously by the family and whose current MP is Sonia Gandhi.
The saffron party announced Singh’s candidature on Thursday, less than 24 hours before the deadline for filing nominations for the Lok Sabha elections. But who is he?
Singh was a former member of Congress who jumped ship in 2018. But, this time it’s from the BJP. After he was announced as Rabareli’s candidate, he said: “I have even fought against four-time MP Sonia Gandhi, so Priyanka Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are the best for me. It didn’t matter. Whichever Gandhi came to Rabarelli, they would fail.
His confidence did not come out of nowhere. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Sonia Gandhi won by a margin of at least 3.5 lakh votes. But in the 2019 polls, when Singh ran against her, her advantage was almost halved to just 167,000 votes.
Dinesh Pratap Singh was lauded for the feat and the top BJP leadership is eyeing 2024 as they plan to repeat the 2019 Amethi in Raebareli. Smriti Irani similarly narrowed the margin of senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in her first election in 2014; she went on to become a mega-killer, Defeated Gandhi’s descendants in 2019 on their own turf.
influential son of the soil
The fact that Singh is a son of the soil is even more worrying for the Congress party which has been considering electing Rahul Gandhi or Priyanka Gandhi. However, the party has so far been unable to name anyone.
Panchavati dominated politics in Raebareli. In fact, Singh’s residence was called “Panchavati”.
He is a resident of the village of Gunawar Khamangalpur and his family has a huge dominance in the politics of La Bareli. Hence, everyone from the block president, district panchayat president to MLCs and MLAs chose to stay at Singh’s house whenever necessary.
During his time in Congress, he had a lot of say in Rabarelli-Ameti’s politics because of his close relationship with Sonia Gandhi and her trust in him, which led to the party appointing him to MLC twice .
Yogi 2.0 minister donates crores of rupees for Ram Mandir
After his performance against Sonia in 2019, there were discussions in the state about his declining influence in the BJP. However, the saffron party, which appointed Yogi Adityanath as MLC and minister in his second term, hinted that its sights will be on Raebareli in 2024, whether Sonia is in office or not.
Currently, he is serving as Minister of State (Independent Charge), Department of Horticulture, Agri-Marketing, Agri-Foreign Trade and Agri-Exports, Government of Uttar Pradesh.
In 2021, the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya is in full swing and Singh generously donated a whopping Rs 121 crore to Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra for the construction of the temple. Sources say he made headlines at the time and the BJP leadership also took notice.
Challenging Gandhi’s legacy
The Rabareli seat held by former Congress president Sonia Gandhi for four consecutive terms fell vacant as she opted to enter Parliament through the Lok Sabha this time. While the Congress is yet to announce a candidate for Amisi or Rabarelli, party president Malikajun Haq said in a recent interview that there will be “surprises” in both seats.
Before Sonia, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi defeated Rabarelli thrice. The seat was also held by her husband Feroze Gandhi twice, in 1952 and 1957, while Arun Nehru also held the seat briefly in the 1980s.
Check out the 2024 Lok Sabha election third phase schedule, main candidates and constituencies: news18 website.
