Rajnath is contesting from Lucknow in the coming Lok Sabha poll. The VIP constituency was vacated by Vajpayee in 2009, when his trusted lieutenant Lalji Tandon was elected.
Addressing a packed news conference here, Rajnath said he would work towards fulfilling Vajpayee’s dreams of developing Lucknow as ‘Biotech City’ and ensuring a cleaner Gomti river.
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This was Rajnath’s maiden visit to Lucknow after the announcement of his candidature from the constituency.
He claimed Tandon had himself offered the Lucknow seat to him and subsequently, the party’s Central Election Committee (CEC) also sealed his candidature from the seat.
Exuding confidence that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would achieve its goal of 272+ seats in poll, he noted people were drifting towards the party due to the failure of the Congress on multiple fronts, including internal security, inflation, corruption, poverty, etc.
On the denial of ticket to some senior party leaders and fielding turncoats, he said elections were fought on strategy and it was part of the strategy that was getting replicated on the ground.
“There would always be a large number of people wanting to fight election when a party is getting popular. But only one can get the ticket. Not getting ticket does not mean that that the worker has been ignored . However, it is the prerogative of the CEC to decide on candidature,” he said, adding such leaders could be accommodated on important positions after elections.
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