Jitin Prasada, once a close aide of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, is now on a mission to retain the Pilibhit constituency for BJP, which is currently represented by party MP Varun Gandhi.
Prasada, who switched allegience from Congress to BJP in 2021, is the saffron party's candidate for the Lok Sabha elections from Pilibhit.
His candidature itself sparked an intense buzz in the region since it will not see the mother-son duo of Maneka and Varun Gandhi in the fray for the first time in over three decades.
Now, Prasada, who is a minister in the Yogi Adityanath cabinet in Uttar Pradesh, is going full-throttle in the constituency in a bid to secure a victory despite the absence of the Gandhis.
"I might not know the names of people here but I will get to know them in the coming years," Prasada was quoting as saying by PTI on the sidelines of a public meeting in Pilibhit.
According to PTI, Prasada's campaign in Pilibhit is centered around the development work undertaken by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government in the last 10 years and the Centre's vision for a 'Viksit Bharat' (developed India).
"I have come here as a 'doot' (messenger) of Modi ji. All of us are working to fulfil his dream of 'Viksit Bharat'," Prasada told PTI.
However, Prasada has his work cut out for him since the people of the constituency holds a deep connection with Varun Gandhi.
Varun and his mother Maneka Gandhi have been representing Pilibhit since 1996. Maneka, the wife of late Congress leader Sanjay Gandhi, won the seat on a Janata Dal ticket in 1989, lost it in 1991 and won again in 1996.
She won from the constituency again in 1998 and 1999 as an Independent candidate and then in 2004 and 2014 as a BJP candidate. Varun Gandhi won the seat in 2009 and 2019 as a BJP candidate.
The BJP is throwing its weight behind Prasada to ensure that there is no fallout from the sidelining of Varun Gandhi.
PM Modi will address a rally in Puranpur, which falls in the constituency, in an effort to "clear doubts in the minds of voters" and "push the case for Jitin Prasada," sources told PTI.
Several BJP leaders have also visited the constituency to express support for Prasada.
Interestingly, Jitin Prasada’s father Jitendra Prasada, had unsuccessfully contested against Sonia Gandhi in the party's presidential elections in 2000.
Jitin Prasada himself was part of the G23 faction in Congress, which wrote a letter to Sonia Gandhi seeking organisational reforms. He was once seen as a close aide of Rahul Gandhi.
(With inputs from PTI)
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