Dinesh Pratap Singh, currently serving as a Minister in the Yogi Adityanath Cabinet in Uttar Pradesh, is the BJP candidate against Congress’ Rahul Gandhi from the high-profile Raebareli seat. In a candid interview at his residence in Raebareli, Singh spoke to Organiser Special Correspondent Nishant Kumar Azad and Sub-editor Yatharth Sikka about party’s chances of winning from Gandhi family’s bastion and on other pertinent issues. Excerpts:
You are the only candidate in two decades who gave a tough fight to Sonia Gandhi from Raebareli in 2019, and the margin of defeat was very less in comparison to others. This time your opponent is Rahul Gandhi. How do you see this fight?
To be honest, I think I had defeated Sonia Gandhi in 2019. She barely managed an overall win because she was fighting with the support of Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samajwadi Party, and Apna Dal (Kamerawadi). This time these votes are not going to add up. Had she not enjoyed support of even one of those parties, the BJP would have won. Moreover, the people of Rae Bareli have seen a positive change in their lives under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi. Be it 24×7 power supply, safe and pollution free cooking fuel, scores of welfare schemes, and others, people know how BJP Government has changed their lives and will continue to do so. Rahul Gandhi cannot challenge any of it.
There is a peculiar caste arithmetic in Raebareli with voters from Dalit, Kshatriya and Brahman communities leading the electorate. How are you managing it?
I as a BJP candidate is rallying behind PM Modi’s call of Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas. We have many forces in Uttar Pradesh who only do social arithmetic, whereas we are moving ahead with the agenda of social justice. We are hopeful that what happened in Amethi in 2019 is set to happen in Raebareli in 2024.
Priyanka Gandhi is poised to campaign for her brother Rahul Gandhi in Raebareli until the very end. Do you think this will make things tough for you?
We have seen Priyanka Gandhi campaigning across the entire country many times. Even in 2022 UP Assembly elections, she campaigned, but Congress was limited to only around 15,000 votes on many seats. In 2014 Lok Sabha Polls, Congress won by a margin of 3.5 lakh votes. After Priyanka’s campaign in 2019, the winning margin reduced to 1.5 lakh votes; Now, it seems that the Congress will lose Raebareli seat by 70,000 votes.
Congress and its alliance are again going ahead with Muslim appeasement, while Ram Gopal Yadav calls the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya ‘bekar’.
There is nothing new in what Congress and likes of Lalu Prasad are saying. That’s what they have done forever. As far as Ram Gopal Yadav is concerned, let him say something similar standing in any village in Uttar Pradesh, and the people will respond to him accordingly. We built the Baba Vishwanath corridor in Kashi, Ram Mandir in Ayodhya because they are the Centre of our faith. Let Ram Gopal Yadav say whatever he wants; the country does not take him seriously. Sonia Gandhi also went against Shri Ram; she said there is no existence of Ram Setu. You can see where Congress has reached today. Saying such things will only bring his party’s tally down the order.
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