If there is one defeat that the Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not forget for a long time it is the defeat of BJP candidate Lallu Singh from Faizabad constituency in Uttar Pradesh.
Ayodhya falls within the Faizabad parliamentary constituency and it was on January 22, 2024, that Modi consecrated the Ram temple.
It was assumed that the BJP candidate would win the Faizabad Lok Sabha constituency handsomely. Democracy is all about surprises and Samajwadi Party candidate Awadhesh Prasad proved it.
He won the Faizabad seat by defeating Lallu Singh by a margin of 54,567 votes.
Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav had given Awadesh Prasad, who is a Dalit, the ticket to contest the Lok Sabha election in Faizabad even though the seat was not a reserved one, proving his political acumen as he understood the undercurrent of anger in the Dalit community against the BJP.
"I was 101 percent sure I will win from Ayodhya and defeat the BJP. I had the blessings of Prabhu Shri Ram, Lord Hanuman and Saryu Ma," Awadhesh Prasad tells
Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com on a visit to Mumbai over the weekend. Read the interview
here.