Ready to fight against Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareli: Major (retd.) Surendra Poonia

Major (retd.) Surendra Poonia, who recently joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday, expressed his willingness to take on UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi from her home turf Rae Bareli in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections.

As per reports, the BJP is looking for popular candidates to give a tough fight to members of the Nehru-Gandhi family in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections.

Rae Bareli is Sonia Gandhi's stronghold. She has registered four consecutive wins from Rae Bareli since 2004.

Poonia told ANI, "It would be an honour for me if Narendra Modi ji asks me to fight against Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareli constituency. I will happily take this task. This will be a fight between chowkidar (watchman) vs chor (thief)."

A former Special Forces officer of the Indian Army, Major Poonia said that the leadership quality of Prime Minister Narendra Modi inspired him to join the BJP.

"The main reason behind joining the BJP is the leadership quality of Narendra Modi ji. He has always kept nationalism and national security first. He has immense respect for security forces. He has worked for needy people, youth and security forces; hence, I joined the party to serve for the country," he said.

Poonia on March 23 joined the BJP in the presence of BJP general secretary JP Nadda and senior leader Ram Lal just a day after former cricketer Gautam Gambhir joined the party.

After joining the party, Poonia tweeted stating, "I have joined the Bharatiya Janata Party to serve the nation and our people. It is a great honour for me to support and stand with the idea of 'Nation First' against the idea of 'Family First' from party's platform which is led by the honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi."

Major Surendra Poonia is a recipient of Vishisht Seva Medal. He has also won numerous international awards and has also served as a Special Forces Officer in the Indian Army.He had contested in the 2014 parliamentary election from Sikar Lok Sabha of Rajasthan.