Sitting BJP MP from Lucknow Lalji Tandon on Tuesday, set at rest all speculation about top party leaders planning to contest from Lucknow.
The Lucknow parliamentary seat was held by Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee and it was said that Mr Rajnath Singh, Mr Narendra Modi and Dr Murli Manohar Joshi were keen to contest this seat and lay their claim to the legacy of the former Prime Minister.
“I have been reading reports that Narendra Modi, Rajnath Singh, Murli Manohar Joshi and Kalraj Mishra are keen to contest the Lucknow seat. I do not know where this news has come from but it is nothing more than a rumour,” he said on Tuesday.
Mr Lalji Tandon said that he would seek re-election from his Lucknow seat. “At times, I think that I should not contest elections now as I am getting on with age but when I discuss it with my supporters they start pressurising me and I have to accept their verdict,” he added.
He said that if the party had taken a decision to field some other leader from Lucknow, there was no reason to hide this form him.
“Till now, no one has discussed about another candidate from Lucknow with me,” he said and added that Mr Rajnath Singh and Mr Kalraj Mishra have personally told him that they will not contest the polls from Lucknow.
“As far as Mr Modi is concerned, he also has not sent any feelers in this regard,” the BJP MP said. Mr Tandon said that he had never thought of changing his seat ever since he joined politics in 1960 when he won the corporator’s election. “I never changed my place and always remained in Lucknow. People of the city are connected to me because I have been with them since the past five decades and I am available for them 24X7,” he said.