News Brief
BJP Fields Minister SP Singh Baghel Against Akhilesh Yadav, Constituencies Not Property Or Fortress, Says Former: Reports
- Baghel will be clashing with Yadav in a contest where the SP, the BSP, Congress and the BJP will be aiming for winning over the support from the 'backward' communities.
S P Singh Baghel ands Akhilesh Yadav
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to field Union Minister of State for Law and Justice Satya Pal Singh Baghel against Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav in the upcoming assembly poll in Karhal in Uttar Pradesh, reports say.
Baghel will be clashing with Yadav in a contest where the SP, the BSP, Congress and the BJP will be aiming for winning over the support from the 'backward' communities.
Sections of the media have reported that the BJP seems in no mood to give Yadav a walkover in the assembly poll. The fielding of Baghel against Yadav is being said to be a surprising move from the BJP in order to make Yadav's ride difficult.
The NDTV website has quoted Baghel as saying: "I will fight with all my might — this is not anyone's bastion or stronghold. I have seen Kannauj, Firozabad, and Etawah (Samajwadi strongholds) fall." It mentions Yadav as saying: "Whoever is chosen as the BJP candidate from Karhal will lose."
The Times of India report mentions that the BJP kept the decision under wraps and Baghel's candidature came as a surprise when he filed his nomination papers after Yadav himself.
Baghel has contested from the Samajwadi Party earlier as well as the BSP. He started his political career from the SP, where he got the opportunity to watch Mulayam Singh Yadav closely in the 1980s.
News 18 website has quoted him as saying: “He must be giving me the blessings while thinking about his son who removed him from his post of chief of the party. Mulayam Yadav's signatures had the power to give the ticket and that was snatched from him.”
Baghel was part of Mulayam Singh Yadav's security team and was trusted by the then SP chief.
Baghel fought the Vidhan Sabha poll in 1998 and won it. He has been active in politics in Auraiya, Firozabad, and Agra — from where he entered the 2019 Lok Sabha contest from the BJP, and in Mainpuri. He is known for his influence in Etah and Kasganj as well.
“In a democracy, no one should consider the Lok Sabha constituency or assembly constituency as their property or fortress. Those who were born from the womb of queens can think of their fortresses but not those who contest,” he has been quoted as saying.
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