Samajwadi Party today decided to field state minister Vinod Kumar Singh from Kaiserganj Lok Sabha seat after sitting party MP Brij Bhushan Saran Singh is understood to have refused to contest on SP ticket.
"Instead of Brij Bhushan, whose name was announced earlier, Vinod Kumar Singh alias Pandit Singh will be the party candidate," SP national general secretary Ramgopal Yadav said in a statement issued here.
Pandit Singh is presently a minister of state in Akhilesh government.
Bhushan Saran Singh, who is an accused in the Babri mosque demolition case, met Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav last week and has conveyed his unwillingness to remain in the party, sources said.
Bhushan, on several occasion, had attacked the state government and sensing his mood the SP had brought back Kunda MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya into the Cabinet to maintain party's hold in Thakur community.
The Kaiserganj MP, who is also the president of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), had last month flayed the state government "for not granting dues to deserving sportspersons."
Singh is reportedly planning to join BJP, on whose ticket he had made debut in Parliament in 1991.
