The BJP has fielded former joint director of the Enforcement Directorate Rajeshwar Singh from the Sarojini Nagar constituency in Lucknow a day after he took voluntary retirement from services to enter politics with the saffron party.
Mr. Singh, who still had 11 years of service left, had applied for VRS (voluntary retirement service), which got accepted. he said on Monday. He served for a decade in the UP police and another 14 years in the ED. “Boots hang up,” he wrote in a note on Monday announcing his decision to enter politics.
“During my tenure in the UP police it was my attempt to ensure quick justice to women and children and the aggrieved. That their faith in the police is maintained. And that dreaded criminals are arrested and face ‘encounters’,” Mr. Singh said.
He said he had also unearthed and investigation many scams of national and public importance such as the 2G Spectrum, Augusta Westland Helicopter Deal, Aircel-Maxis, Amrapali scam, Noida Ponzy scheme scam and the Gomti Riverfront scam. During his tenure, he said he had also seized properties worth Rs 4,000 acquired through illegal income by politicians, bureaucrats, bahubalis and mafia.
Mr. Singh’s candidature from Sarojini Nagar seat came at the cost of sitting MLA and minister Swati Singh, minister of state (independent charge) for women’s Welfare, Child Development & Nutrition.
Ms. Singh and her husband Daya Shankar Singh, a BJP vice-president in UP, had both staked claim to the seat this time in an embarrassing situation for the party. In 2016, Mr. Daya Shankar Singh had grabbed attention for his sexist remarks made against BSP chief Mayawati. However, while the BSP tried to take political mileage from of the situation, the BJP swiftly counter-attacked by magnifying the alleged sexist language used by BSP workers against his wife Ms. Swati during a protest in Lucknow.
Following the controversy, Mr. Daya Shankar slipped into the shadows till the 2017 election but his wife contested from Sarojini Nagar and won. She then won herself a ministerial berth in the Yogi Adityanath-government.
Mr. Rajeshwar Singh is the second top officer to be fielded by the BJP this election. IPS officer Asim Arun had recently quit his police service and joined the BJP to contest election from from native Kannauj.
Published - February 01, 2022 11:50 pm IST
