Ajay Rai will contest elections from Varanasi, will give competition to PM Modi
Senior UP Congress leader and state president Ajay Rai has been made the candidate from Varanasi Lok Sabha seat. He will be contesting against PM Modi for the third consecutive time. Let us tell you that he has also contested elections in 2014 and 2019. He was at third place in both the elections.
Who is Ajay Rai?
Senior UP Congress leader and state president Ajay Rai is an old Sanghi and has been associated with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. Later he became an active member of BJP. The party gave him assembly ticket from Kolsala constituency of UP thrice. Ajay Rai won the elections all three times. Later he also asked for Lok Sabha ticket, but when the party did not give him a ticket, he became angry. After this he left the party in 2009 and joined Samajwadi Party. Samajwadi Party fielded him against Murli Manohar Joshi from Varanasi, but he lost.
Ajay Rai has been MLA a total of five times
Ajay Rai was MLA a total of five times. In 2012 he joined Congress. The party gave him ticket from Pindra, but he lost. In 2014 and 2019, Congress fielded him against PM Modi from Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency but he lost both times. In 2023, the party made him the President of the Congress Committee. This time for the 2024 elections, the party has again given him a ticket against BJP candidate Narendra Modi from Varanasi.
Ajay Rai is the Bahubali of Varanasi
Ajay Rai was born on 7 October 1969 in Varanasi in a Brahmin family who were natives of Ghazipur district. Initially he was known as a local Bahubali and he has been a history-sheeter. In 1994, Mukhtar Ansari and his men allegedly shot dead his elder brother Awadhesh Rai in Lahurabir area of Varanasi. After this Ajay Rai became an associate of Brijesh Singh. Earlier he was associated with Brijesh Singh and Tribhuvan Singh in several criminal cases since 1989.
His name came up in the attack on Varanasi Deputy Mayor Anil Singh in 1991. In his FIR, Anil Singh had said that on August 20, 1991, Ajay Rai and others had fired at his jeep in the Cantonment area. Rai was later acquitted in the case.
