Uttar Pradesh polls: Congress’s ex-candidate from Padrauna joins BJP | Lucknow News – Times of India

LUCKNOW: Exactly ten days after Congress leader RPN Singh defected to BJP, his close aide and Congress’ candidate from Padrauna assembly in Kushinagar, Manish Jaiswal joined the saffron party on Friday.
Several other leaders of the Congress including its OBC morcha vice-president Nand Lal Chauhan too joined the BJP in the presence of Union minister and BJP co-incharge Anurag Thakur at the state BJP headquarters in Lucknow. RPN Singh too was present on the occasion.
Jaiswal is likely to be fielded by the BJP from Padrauna which was represented by rebel BJP leader Swami Prasad Maurya who switched over to the SP last month. Maurya, as a matter of fact, has been made SP candidate from the neighbouring Fazilnagar assembly seat in the district. Fazilnagar is currently represented by BJP MLA Ganga, who also hails from backward caste background and is 85 years old.
The Congress had declared Jaiswal as its candidate from Padrauna in the first list released on January 13, which also included UP Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu, who is contesting from Tamukhi Raj constituency. However, after RPN joined the BJP, Manish quit the Congress explaining his “unwillingness” to contest as its candidate. Kushinagar Congress president Rajkumar Singh, too, had quit the party.
R P N Singh had represented the Padrauna constituency in 1996, 2002 and 2007 assembly elections. He defeated Swami Prasad Maurya from Kushinagar in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, after which he got appointed as union minister of state in the previous UPA government.