On the last day of filing nominations today, BJP President Nitin Gadkari approved the candidature of Jagdev Singh Yadav, who has only been involved in local bodies elections till now, from Kanauj- a SP pocketborough.
While the candidate's name was announced just a few hours before the 3 pm deadline, reports soon came in that Jagdev Yadav was prevented from filing his nomination papers by goons, allegedly belonging to the Samajwadi Party.
"This incident has revealed the real face of Samajwadi Party. They are back to their old ways. When the BJP candidate was going to file his papers, he was deliberately stopped from doing so. He could not file his nomination. We will complain about this to the Election Commission. There is jungle raj in UP," BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Husain said.
Incidentally, BJP state election committee headed by UP unit president Lakshmikant Bajpai and senior leaders like Lalji Tandon and Kalraj Mishra had yesterday declared that the party will not field a candidate from Kannauj against Dimple.
They had cited the party's engagement in the forthcoming local bodies elections in the state as the reason.
Besides the SP candidate, only Dashrath Singh of Sanyukt Samajwadi Party is in the fray. Congress and BSP have decided not to put up a candidate for the Lok Sabha seat which fell vacant when Akhilesh resigned after taking over as CM.
The last date for withdrawal of nominations is June 8.