LUCKNOW: As Prime Minister

is set to make his maiden visit to the Gandhi family's bastion Rae Bareli on December 16, the BJP is learnt to be quietly making overtures to rebel Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader

and

's former confidante Dinesh Singh as 2019 Lok Sabha probables for the constituency.

Rae Bareli has an equal distribution of Brahmins and OBCs (Kurmi Patels). While Vishwas is a Brahmin, Dinesh Singh, also an MLC, has been a popular figure in the rural precincts of Rae Bareli.

The reported move by the saffron party comes as it intends to make inroads into the Gandhi pocket borough of Rae Bareli and Amethi amid a generous push by several Union ministers including Smriti Irani, Manoj Sinha and

.

While Vishwas was unavailable for comments, Dinesh Singh told TOI: "I nurtured several Vidhan Sabha constituencies like Salone and Tiloi in Amethi since I was an MLC there. I have worked like a loyal soldier of Congress in Rae Bareli. But, there was no interest for any projects by the Gandhi family members. Hence I joined BJP and would be happy to be fielded by them."

Singh had defected from the Congress last year. "We have shortlisted a few names for Rae Bareli. This includes Kumar Vishwas, Dinesh Singh,

Joshi and Vinay Katiyar," said a top UP BJP official.

Party sources said Vishwas and Joshi are being considered as contenders primarily to woo the strong Brahmin base, which might also give BJP fodder to take a jibe at Rahul's gotra in neighbouring Amethi in the caste-driven Hindi heartland.

Katiyar, who had finished third with 19,000-odd votes against 4-lakh plus votes of Sonia in the 2006 by-elections in Rae Bareli, has the backing of Bajrang Dal and VHP activists.

Party sources say that the probability for Vishwas, who has been touring across the US, Europe and Asia for his musical concerts after his relations with AAP soured last year over Rajya Sabha elections, also emerges from the fact that he and Modi have always enjoyed ties during the latter's nearly 15-year stint as Gujarat chief minister.