"I challenge Akhilesh Yadav to contest against me," Keshav Prasad Maurya told NDTV
In Sirathu, one of the oldest towns in Uttar Pradesh about 150 km from Lucknow, an interesting election contest is in the making with the state's deputy Chief Minister facing a still-unknown rival.
The BJP's Keshav Prasad Maurya, the number 2 in the Yogi Adityanath government, is contesting for the second time from Sirathu.
The Samajwadi Party had earlier announced the name of Pallavi Patel, the older sister of BJP ally Anupriya Patel. Pallavi Patel is from the Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) of her mother Krishna Patel but will contest under the Samajwadi party symbol.
Sirathu falls in the Phulpur Lok Sabha constituency, from where the father of the Patel sisters, Sonelal Patel, had once won.
But now there is uncertainty about the Samajwadi candidate as Pallavi Patel reportedly does not want to contest the election opposite Keshav Prasad Maurya.
Mr Maurya says he is a cinch to win the Sirathu seat, even if his Samajwadi rival is its chief Akhilesh Yadav himself.
"I challenge Akhilesh Yadav to contest against me," Mr Maurya told NDTV after filing his nomination today.
He said regardless of the exit of backward caste leaders like Swami Prasad Maurya from the BJP, the party would "win with more seats" in the UP elections starting February 10.
"The opposition has the right to field a candidate but whether people vote for them will be clear on March 10. I believe that the lotus (BJP's symbol) will bloom even if the Samajwadi Party, BSP and Congress fight together," the UP Deputy Chief Minister said.
Responding to allegations of an increasingly polarising campaign by the BJP and its candidates, Mr Maurya said: "We don't play politics of polarisation. The Samajwadi Party plays politics of appeasement."
He also gave his own interpretation of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's highly controversial "80 versus 20" comment last month, seen to pit the strength of Hindu voters versus Muslim voters.
"When we talk about 80 versus 20, then 80 indicates those people who have benefited from our development work," Mr Maurya said.