The Jaunpur Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh has become a battleground between three titans. One is former home minister of Maharahstra Kripashankar Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), then is the wife of gangster turned politician Dhananjay Singh who hails from Telangana and is contesting on a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) seat and lastly, veteran leader Babu Singh Kushwaha from Samajwadi Party, who is ready to give a tough fight to both his opponents this election season.
Kripashankar Singh is three-time MLA from Mumbai, Maharashtra, one-time MLC and the former home minister of Maharashtra who, back in the day, was a prominent face of the Maharashtra Congress. He seems elated to contest from his ‘Janambhoomi Jaunpur’ on a BJP ticket this time. In 2019, after expressing his disapproval over Congress’s position on Article 370, Kripashankar had parted ways with the INC & in July 2021, he joined the BJP in Maharashtra.
During his ongoing election campaign, he spoke to News18 in detail and explained what really went downhill with the Congress. He said, “There are two reasons why I left Congress. One was the issue of Ram Temple construction that the party deliberately delayed and second was the issue of the Congress’s position on Article 370.”
Upon being asked why senior Congress leaders were leaving the party and joining BJP, he said, “Rahul Gandhi apna gireban mein jhaanke pehle (He should first introspect) why his friends like Jitin Prasada, Jyotiraditya Scindia, RPN Singh left the INC.” He mentioned an anecdote of a meeting between Rahul Gandhi and Late Vilas Rao Deshmukh where Gandhi “deliberately made Vilas Rao wait for 30 mins. “Rahul Gandhi always behaves like a king,” he added.
Kripashankar also recalled how he was warned by Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge not to speak against party. He further added that leaders like Rajiv Shukla and Digvijaya Singh tried stopping him from leaving but he left the party any way. During this time, he recalled to have never been contacted by any member of the Gamdhi family to understand his decision of leaving the party after serving it faithfully for so many years.
Kripashankar said, “In the middle of this turmoil, KC Venugopal wrote a letter to me saying I am an opportunist. He then retorted by saying, “If I had truly been an opportunism wouldn’t I have joined the BJP immediately, whereas I waited for twenty months to join BJP when Devendra Fadnavis wanted me to contest Vidhan Sabha elections from Maharashtra.”
A seasoned politician who knows how to keep the higher ups in the party happy, Kripashakar was always close to the Gandhi family during his time in the Congress and now he is in the inner circles of senior leadership of BJP. His eyes gleamed with pride while saying, “Grihmantri Maharashtra mein tha ab main grih aagaya hoon (I was home minister in Maharashtra, now I have returned home), I am really happy.” He says that he is foreseeing a landslide victory in Jaunpur due to significant development under the reign of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. He described how Jaunpur now has a connectivity of six lane highways and guaranteed electricity supply for 16-18 hours a day.
On being asked if the BJP was using ED as a political tool, Kripashankar said, “Today they are questioning ED’s credibility but I want to ask them what they did to me by slapping cases of disproportionate assets against me. Was that lesser than a political conspiracy intended to end my career?”
On being asked if he has orchestrated or participated in any political conspiracy against Dhananjay Singh, he said, “I don’t have anything to do with his case and I am contesting from Jaunpur as per my party’s command.”
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