Ajay Rai Profile: Ajay Rai, a prominent face of the Congress in eastern UP, recently made such remarks on Union Minister and BJP MP from Amethi, Smriti Irani, due to which he came under attack from the BJP. The National Commission for Women has also summoned her next week. Rai is being pressurized to apologize, but he has refused to apologize for his remarks. In such a situation, many people want to know about Ajay Rai, know here who he is…
Rai is a Bhumihar leader who has been the main face of the Congress in eastern UP for the past decade. He was earlier in BJP only. He started his political career from BJP only. In 2012, he joined the Congress. After that, in the Lok Sabha elections of 2014 and 2019, he contested as Prime Minister from Varanasi. Narendra Modi Contested against, but lost both times.
Fought elections against Modi, but lost
Even in 2009, Ajay Rai wanted to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi. However, after senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi got the ticket, he resigned from the party to contest against Joshi as a Samajwadi Party candidate. After that, he himself contested the by-election from Kolasla in 2009 as an independent candidate and won. Even before that, he was elected to the UP Legislative Assembly thrice in 1996, 2002 and 2007 on a BJP ticket from the Kolasla seat in Varanasi.
Entry in Congress party was done in 2012
Ajay Rai has been an MLA for five times so far. He had entered Congress in 2012 when Digvijay Singh was in-charge of UP and Congress General Secretary. He played an important role in Ajay Rai’s entry into the party. He contested the 2012 assembly by-election as a Congress candidate from the Pindra seat of Varanasi and thus became an MLA for the fifth time.
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..and then had to stay in jail for 7 months
In 2015, Ajay Rai was arrested for his alleged role in violence during a protest march by saints protesting the police against locals objecting to the ban on immersion of idols in the Ganges. It was then said that Rai was a major face behind that protest march. Then Rai had to stay in jail for more than seven months. Rai had also taken out Bharat Jodo Yatra in Chandauli, UP.
Congress leadership has faith in him
Ajay Rai failed to win the assembly elections in 2017 and 2022, but he has been holding important organizational responsibilities in the Congress for years. The Congress leadership’s confidence in him can be gauged from the fact that in the recent reshuffle of the state unit by general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, he was made the party’s president for the Prayagraj region, which covers about 12 districts in eastern UP. It’s on them.