Dinesh Pratap Singh, the BJP candidate from Uttar Pradesh's Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat is facing off his own party besides Rahul Gandhi, it seems.
First off was Aditi Singh, the party’s only MLA from the district who in a cryptic post on X (formerly Twitter) wrote that there would be no compromise with principles. The post was accompanied by a photo of her with her father, Akhilesh Pratap.
Singh, who was formerly with the Congress, has not stepped out to campaign for the candidate even once.
If there were any doubts about what and to whom Singh’s post was directed at, the BJP candidate’s son Piyush Pratap Singh wrote in another social media post, "(You will get) respect if you try to work hard. You will be successful too."
Home Minister Amit Shah will be in the constituency soon to address a rally. Shah has been saying elsewhere that Rahul Gandhi will lose Rae Bareli by a huge margin. However, it seems the various components of the BJP will make it difficult for him to lose.
Ajay Agrawal, who was the party’s candidate in the 2014 election, vented his disappointment on social media. He wrote that despite the fact that he was present in the constituency. and had been so throughout the campaign, he had not been invited to Shah’s rally. He chalked this up to the candidate’s ‘pride’.
Agrawal was angling for a ticket for himself despite the fact that he had polled much lower than Dinesh Pratap Singh who stood against Sonia Gandhi in 2019. His own party cadre dismiss him as a lightweight. But if his supporters are miffed, it will impact the BJP support base, just as in the case with Aditi Singh.
All of these factors are likely to contribute to making Rahul Gandhi’s path in this election much easier.
