Raghuraj Singh Shakya, BJP candidate for Mainpuri Lok Sabha bypoll, on Tuesday said Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) founder Shivpal Singh Yadav is his “political guru” and he will seek his blessings for the December 5 election.
Shakya was once a close associate of Shivpal Yadav but quit his PSPL to join the BJP earlier this year. He was earlier in the Samajwadi Party (SP) and sided with Shivpal Yadav after he formed his own party.
“Mulayam Singh Yadav was my guru and he was a person with a big heart. Shivpal Singh Yadav is my political guru who brought me into politics, I will seek his blessings,” Shakya told reporters in Mainpuri.
Attacking his rival and SP candidate Dimple Yadav, Shakya said, “Can anyone meet her? For meeting her you have to give an application and get through security personnel.” “I am a farmer’s son, anyone can stop me anywhere on the road. I am always available for them,” he said.
Shakya, who will file his nomination for the bypoll on Wednesday, said the people of Uttar Pradesh lived in fear during SP rule but things changed after the BJP came to power in the state.
“People, especially women, were living in fear because of goons but now every section of the society is feeling fearless under the Yogi Adityanath government,” he said.
He said he left the SP as its members include goons, land mafia and anti-social elements. The BJP, on the other hand, is a “disciplined cadre-based party”, he added.
The Mainpuri bypoll was necessitated due to the death of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Mainpuri has long been a pocket borough of the Yadav family.
However, after successfully breaching SP citadels of Azamgarh and Rampur Lok Sabha seats, the BJP is hoping to do the same in Mainpuri.
The result for the bypoll will be announced on December 8.
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