Who is Ajay Rai, Congress's Varanasi candidate contesting against Modi
What's the story
The Congress party has released its fourth list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha election in Uttar Pradesh.
The list features Congress leader Ajay Rai, who will have the mammoth task of beating Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
This will be Rai's third attempt to unseat PM Modi in this politically crucial district, following his previous runs in 2014 and 2019.
Here is all you need to know about him!
Context
Why does this story matter?
The Varanasi constituency, which has five assembly seats—Cantt, Rohaniya, Sevapuri, Varanasi South, and North—is scheduled to vote on June 1.
The constituency boasts a voter base of 19.62 lakh people, including roughly 10.65 lakh men, 8.97 lakh women, and 135 third-gender persons.
Notably, the Varanasi constituency will witness an influx of 52,174 first-time voters in this year's Lok Sabha election.
Rai's career
From RSS to Congress: Rai's political journey
Rai embarked on his political journey with the Hindu nationalist group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as a party worker.
During his academic years at Kashi Vidyapeeth in Varanasi, he held the position of convenor for the Bharatiya Janata Party's student division, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).
Rai triumphed over nine-time incumbent Communist Party of India (Marxist) MLA Udal in 1996 for the Kolasla seat, a victory he repeated in 2002.
Switching alliances
Rai's transition from BJP to Congress
Feeling overlooked when the saffron party selected veteran leader Murli Manohar Joshi over him as their Lok Sabha candidate from Varanasi, Rai decided to leave the party in 2007.
He subsequently joined the Samajwadi Party (SP) and ran against Joshi, but was unsuccessful.
In 2012, Rai moved to Congress and won from Pindra (earlier known as Kolasla) by defeating a BJP contender.
In 2014, the party fielded him from Varanasi against PM Modi.
Poll performance
Looking at Rai's performance in past Lok Sabha elections
However, in both the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the grand old party leader came third after PM Modi and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal.
Despite these setbacks, Rai retained significant organizational roles within Congress.
In the 2019 polls, he garnered only 1.52 lakh votes, translating to a vote share of 14.38%, compared to PM Modi's commanding 63.62%.