Who Is Dinesh Singh, BJP's Raebareli Candidate Against Rahul Gandhi

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has nominated Dinesh Pratap Singh as its candidate for the Raebareli Lok Sabha seat, which has been a Congress stronghold for decades. Mr Singh, a three-time Member of the Legislative Council in UP, will face former Congress President Rahul Gandhi, who replaced his mother Sonia Gandhi in the family bastion. 

Mr Singh had lost the 2019 elections to Mrs Gandhi by a margin of over 1.6 lakh votes. 

Here are some facts on Dinesh Pratap Singh:

1. Born on October 3, 1967, Dinesh Pratap Singh is from the Gunawar Kamangalpur village in Rae Bareli district. Mr Singh graduated from Feroze Gandhi Degree College, Raebareli, in 1986. 

2. Mr Singh started his political journey in 2004 with the Samajwadi Party, unsuccessfully contesting as an MLC. Three years later, he switched to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and contested his first Assembly elections. Despite BSP forming the government in Uttar Pradesh at the time, Mr Singh lost his seat. 

3. In 2010, Dinesh Pratap Singh jumped ship again, joining the Congress and winning two successive terms as an MLC. In 2017, he was suspended from the Congress for allegedly misbehaving with the general secretary of the Raebareli Congress committee and other local party leaders. He was also accused of attempting to undermine Kishori Lal Sharma, AICC general secretary and Sonia Gandhi's representative in the constituency. 

4. In 2018, he joined the BJP and contested against Sonia Gandhi in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. In 2022, he was elected as an MLC again, this time with the support of the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in UP. 

5. Dinesh Pratap Singh has claimed that no matter "which Gandhi comes to Raebareli, they will lose". Mr Singh is believed to hold significant influence in the Thakur community.