Ajay Rai, a former BJP leader and current Uttar Pradesh unit chief of the Congress party, has been chosen to contest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi for the third consecutive time. Rai, a seasoned politician from Uttar Pradesh, previously ran against PM Modi in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Varanasi, but unfortunately, he was defeated on both occasions.
Rai is anticipated to rejuvenate the Congress party at the grassroots level in Uttar Pradesh, despite his previous track record. His appointment as the state unit chief in August last year was influenced by this expectation. Brijlal Khabri, a Dalit leader, was replaced by Rai due to his declining popularity, particularly among Priyanka Gandhi’s team operating in the Hindi heartland state.
The Purvanchal strongman started his political journey as a member of the BJP’s student wing, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). He successfully won the MLA seat three times on a BJP ticket from Uttar Pradesh’s Kolasla assembly constituency in 1996, 2002, and 2007. Subsequently, in 2009, he switched to the Samajwadi Party but faced defeat in the Lok Sabha elections against BJP’s Murli Manohar Joshi. His association with the Congress party began in 2012, and during the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections of that year, he emerged victorious against a BJP candidate from the Pindra (formerly Kolasla) constituency. However, Ajai Rai faced defeat in the Pindra constituency in both the 2017 and 2022 assembly elections.
Ajai Rai hails from the Bhumihar community, a group that holds significant influence and political clout in specific areas of eastern Uttar Pradesh. While Purvanchal was once a stronghold of the Congress party, it is now predominantly controlled by the BJP, with PM Modi leading the charge in Lok Sabha elections and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath representing the region in the state assembly.
Moreover, with Congress’s Bharat Jodo and Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra initiatives, which primarily focus on the party’s commitment to engaging with the public, particularly the youth, Ajai Rai’s candidacy aligns with this approach. The party is seeking a candidate who can effectively challenge PM Modi’s influence in Uttar Pradesh as a whole.
