Fatehpur Sikri: BJP MLA turns rebel, fields son against party nominee

Babulal Chaudhary, who is from the Jat community and was with the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) before joining the BJP, asserted that his son is the “candidate of people”, and that he was selected through a consensus reached at a panchayat of the community.

He claimed that the locals prefer his son over party candidate Rajkumar, citing the MP’s absence from the area and lack of familiarity with local issues and concerns.

Party functionaries said that efforts were made to persuade the disgruntled leader and his son against sabotaging the BJP’s electoral strategy. BJP’s Agra district president Giriraj Kushwaha said they made every effort to persuade MLA Babulal to withdraw his son’s candidacy, but he remained adamant. They have conveyed the matter to the party leadership that needed to take a call on the issue, he added.

Kushwaha said that Rajkumar Chahar is the BJP’s official candidate and he will file his nomination on Thursday.

Rameshwar Chaudhary unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha elections in 1998 and  1999 from Agra and Mathura, respectively.

Babulal Chaudhary, three-time MLA and one-time MP, won his first Assembly election as an independent in 1996 and then as a Lok Dal candidate. He won the third assembly election on BJP symbol.

Raising questions on the incumbent MP’s tenure, Rameshwar underscored his “engagement at the grassroots level” over the past decade as the basis for his candidacy. He attributed the prevailing anti-incumbency to the sitting MP’s invisibility in the past five years.

“I have been continuously working on the ground for the last 10 years. If I remain with  people in their happiness and sorrows, then why can’t I contest?” Rameshwar asked.

With nearly 18 lakh voters, the Lok Sabha constituency is dominated by the Jat community that comprises around 3 lakh votes. The seat comprising five assembly constituencies — Fatehpur Sikri, Fatehabad, Kheragarh, Agra Rural, and Bah — goes to the polls in the third phase of elections on May 7. The last date for filing nomination from the seat is April 19.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Rajkumar Chahar emerged victorious with 667,147 votes, constituting 66.24 percent of the total votes polled. Following closely was Congress candidate Raj Babbar, securing 172,082 votes.