Congress pits BJP defector against BJP's Sanjay Sinh in Amethi

The Congress on Monday nominated Bharatiya Janata Party turncoat Ashish Shukla against the saffron party’s nominee, Sanjay Sinh, from the high-profile Amethi assembly seat in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.

Shukla left the BJP and joined the Congress in the national capital earlier in the day.

The BJP had on Sunday declared former Congress member of Parliament Sanjay Sinh, who had given up his Rajya Sabha seat and joined the BJP in 2019, as its candidate from the constituency.

Sinh's wife Amita Singh and his first wife Garima Singh were in the race for the BJP ticket, but the party settled the matter in favour of the husband.

While Garima Singh is the sitting BJP legislator, Amita Singh, who had unsuccessfully fought the last state polls on a Congress ticket, had crossed over to the BJP along with her husband.

The Samajwadi Party has fielded the wife of its former minister Gayatri Prajapati from Amethi seat, while Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati has nominated Ragini Tiwari from here.

Prajapati is serving a life sentence in connection with a gang-rape case.

Fighting to reclaim the lost Gandhi family bastion of Amethi, the Congress has reposed faith in Ashish Shukla (a Brahmin) to take on Sanjay Sinh, a Thakur belonging to the erstwhile royal family.

Ashish Shukla, who served as a minister in the BSP government of Mayawati in 2007, had crossed over to the BJP before last assembly polls and later switched to the Congress.

The Amethi assembly seat will go to polls in the fifth phase on February 27.