BJP releases list of 6 candidates, fields Dinesh Lal Yadav 'Nirhua' against Akhilesh from Azamgarh

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday released 16th list of 6 candidates for the Lok Sabha Elections 2019 fielding Bhojpuri actor-singer Dinesh Lal Yadav 'Nirhua' from Azamgarh (UP) against Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav. Besides, Manoj Kotak will contest from Mumbai North East, from where Kirit Somaiya is the sitting MP. Prem Singh Shakhya will fight against Akhilesh's father and SP veteran Mulayam Singh in Mainpuri.  

BJP releases 16th list of 6 candidates in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh for #LokSabhaElections2019 . Manoj Kotak to contest from Mumbai North East (where Kirit Somaiya is the sitting MP), Dinesh Lal Yadav 'Nirhua' to contest from Azamgarh (UP) against SP's Akhilesh Yadav. pic.twitter.com/uQvwJpGRSl

— ANI (@ANI) April 3, 2019

The list also includes Dinesh Pratap Singh who will take on senior Congress leader and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi in Rae Bareli. Dinesh Pratap Singh is a local strongman who had left the Congress to join it last year. The seat has long been a bastion of the Gandhi family with the former Congress president representing it in Lok Sabha since 2004.

The party has replaced sitting Machhlishahr MP Ram Charitra Nishad with VP Saroj. On Mumbai North East constituency, Shiv Sena had been bitterly opposed to Somaiya's candidature. And the BJP's decision to replace him with Manoj Kotal underscores its keenness to keep its Hindutva ally in good humour. Somaiya, an old BJP hand and one of its leading speakers on economic issues in Parliament, had been a trenchant critic of the Sena. The BJP named Chandra Sen Jadun as its candidate from Firozabad. The SP had won from Azamgarh, Mainpuri and Firozabad in 2014, with members of its ruling Yadav family emerging victorious. 

(With PTI inputs)