Swati Singh is confident of breaking gender jinx on this Lucknow seat

Kissa Naqvi

Lucknow: Historically, there are two jinxes attached to one assembly seat of Lucknow and one candidate is sure of breaking the both. The seat is Sarojini Nagar, the candidate is Swati Singh and the jinxes are this seat is never won by BJP and by a woman candidate.

Swati Singh, a rather new entrant to Bharatiya Janata Party, enthuses confidence of breaking the hoodoo on this seat in Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections 2017 . She has filed nomination as BJP nominee on this seat going to polls in the third phase of polling on February 19.

It was a baptism by fire for Swati whose husband, a BJP leader Daya Shankar, was found indulged in the politics of besmirch for his outburst against BSP Supremo Mayawati. He was expelled from the party but his wife Swati Singh was made target of another round of slur,this time by BSP leaders. She fought them gustily, earned the praise of public at large and the subsequently inducted into the saffron party, immediately made state chief of BJP Mahila Morcha and now the assembly ticket from Sarojini Nagar tasking to win it for the first time for the party and that too as a woman candidate.

It is not easy for a rookie like her, though, because of the high profile opponent in Anurag Yadav, close confidant of Samajwadi Party President and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and old war-horse Shiv Shankar Singh from BSP.

Swati spoke to www.newstrack.com about her candidature, strategy and conviction that why would she be through. ''I was looking forward to take on Mayawati on this seat as there was a rumour of BSP Chief may be contesting from here,'' she said expressing disappointment over not been able to contest against heavyweight in her first outing at the hustings.

Swati, otherwise a firebrand leader, is confident of representing what she calls half of the population as a woman candidate and said taking on Anurag Yadav, also the nephew of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, is no mean job but then the negative politics of SP, BSP and Congress is bound to be rebuffed by the public this time.

She was optimistic of BJP gaining support after some innovative promises made for girls and women in the party's manifesto coupled with a very pragmatic budget by the NDA government at the Centre. The atrocities on women, the deteriorated law and order and goonda raj during SP regime in Uttar Pradesh would surely play in the minds of electorate when they move out to vote, asserts Swati while brimming with the confidence that her party provides the best alternative in the state.