SP springs a surprise in Varanasi at the last minute



Samajwadi Party

Narendra Modi

Aam Aadmi Party

Priyanka Gandhi

Rajya Sabha

In a last minute move on the ultimate day of filing of nominations from Varanasi on Monday, the(SP) changed its candidate to take on Prime Minister. It opted to field dismissed BSF constable Tej Bahadur Yadav, who was sacked in 2017 for protesting against the quality of food in the mess.Tej, who had already filed his papers as an independent candidate from the constituency, was first backed by the. However, on Monday, the SP chose to adopt him as its “most fitting challenger” to the PM.“We had initially fielded Shalini Yadav. She had even filed her nomination papers. But when we found out that the Congress was not going to field, we decided to back the jawan who fought inequalities in security forces,” said SP spokesperson Uday Veer Singh. “We felt he would be the most fitting challenger to the PM and the BJP, who are fighting in the name of the Army, to face a jawan who exposed corruption and inequalities that were rampant in the forces.”Denying reports that Priyanka avoided contesting from Varanasi because the SP had refused to extend support to her under pressure from the BSP, Singh said, “If we can extend support to the Gandhis in Amethi and Rae Bareli, why would we not back Priyankaji in Varanasi? It is another matter that the Congress is fighting all over UP, trying to improve its vote base. In do so, they are using those rejected by the SP and the BSP.”After filing his nomination, Tej said the people would now have to “choose between a real watchman and a fake watchman”. “Even Akhileshji said that we are standing with the real watchman and not with a person who only believes in rhetoric.”Shalini is the daughter-in-law of late Congress leader and formerdeputy chairperson Shyam Lal Yadav. Formerly with the Congress, she joined the SP on April 22. She had unsuccessfully run for the mayoral poll in Varanasi in 2017.Varanasi goes to polls on May 19 in the final phase.