Kumar Vishwas in a moment of silence during the launch of an application and at Press Club of India on May 9, 2018 in New Delhi. (Photo by Sanchit Khanna/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
Kumar Vishwas in a moment of silence during the launch of an application and at Press Club of India on May 9, 2018 in New Delhi. (Photo by Sanchit Khanna/Hindustan Times via Getty Images) 
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As Modi Plans To Visit Rae Bareli, Rumours Abound of Kumar Vishwas Fighting Sonia Gandhi On BJP Ticket

BySwarajya Staff

For the first time ever, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting Rae Bareli, a bastion of the Gandhi dynasty in Uttar Pradesh. The BJP has been trying to beat the Congress on its turf since the last three terms and have been unsuccessful in their attempts. This time, they plan on roping in Aam Aadmi Party’s Kumar Vishwas and Dinesh Singh to contest from the constituency in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2019.

The constituency is mainly dominated by Brahmins and OBCs (Kurmi Patels), and hence makes it a perfect pitch for someone like Vishwas. On the other hand, Singh, now an MLC, is popular in the rural parts of the constituency.

Times of India quoted Dinesh Singh as saying, “I nurtured several Vidhan Sabha constituencies like Salone and Tiloi in Amethi since I was an MLC there. I have worked like a loyal soldier of Congress in Rae Bareli. But, there was no interest for any projects by the Gandhi family members. Hence I joined BJP and would be happy to be fielded by them.”

Apart from Vishwas and Singh, the list includes names such as Rita Bahuguna Joshi and Vinay Katiyar. Vishwas’s command over his language and poetry skills might be one of the main reasons for the BJP to select him over others.