I respect party's decision on Lucknow seat: Lalji Tandon

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and incumbent Lok Sabha MP (Member of Parliament) from Lucknow, Lalji Tandon on Sunday said that as a true soldier of the party he accepts party's decision in making way for party president Rajnath Singh to contest from the Lucknow constituency in Uttar Pradesh (U.P).

"One has to understand that in a democratic system a party has every right to take decision in its best interests. Therefore, I firmly believe that nobody should go against the party's decision. Being a committed cadre of BJP I have always accepted party's decision wholeheartedly," Tandon said.

The decision to make Rajnath Singh to contest from Lucknow constituency was announced by BJP in its fourth list of Lok Sabha candidates which was decided at the party's Central Election Committee (CEC) meet on Saturday.

Lalji Tandon, a key associate of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had won the Lucknow seat in the last general election which was earlier represented by the latter. Tandon had earlier stroked a controversy by refusing to give up his seat for anyone other than party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.