Putting all speculations to rest, BJP fields Ghanshyam Lodhi from Rampur

Vibha Sharma

New Delhi, June 4

Putting all speculations to rest regarding union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, the BJP today fielded Ghanshyam Lodhi for by-elections to the Rampur Lok Sabha constituency. Alongside, the party also named Bhojpuri singer Dinesh Lal Yadav ‘Nirhua’ as its candidate from Azamgarh.

After Naqvi was not fielded for Rajya Sabha for June 10 elections, the buzz was that he may be fielded from the Rampur Lok Sabha constituency, which was recently vacated by SP leader Azam Khan after he was elected to the UP Vidhan Sabha.

However, another speculation is that the senior BJP leader from the minority community may be party candidate for the post of the Vice President, or maybe appointed a Governor or brought in the party organisation at some higher level.

Meanwhile,m for the Assembly byelections,  Tripura CM Manik Saha is BJP candidate from Town Bordowali in Tripura,  Rajesh Bhatia from Rajendra Nagar, Delhi, and Gangotri Kujur from Mandar In Jharkhand. They are among the list of seven candidates in four states- Tripura, Delhi, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh.

Notably, Nirahua had already started seeking votes on the party’s symbol by portraying himself as the candidate for the seat.

On Friday, he also shared a poster of himself with a lotus, the party symbol, and tagged several leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, UP CM Yogi Adityanath, and party chief JP Nadda.

The caption read, “Press the lotus button (vote for BJP) for the sake of Azamgarh (kamal ka button dabaaey, apne Azamgarh ke liye).