Lucknow a test for Rajnath, the strategist
For the residents of Lucknow, the sharpest image of Rajnath Singh is that of the state’s chief minister during 2000-2002, straddling across the political scenario with sleeves of his white kurta folded in his trade mark style. He is quite different from the two BJP MPs Lucknow has seen – the poet-at-heart Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the benign Babuji next door, Lalji Tandon. As long as former Prime Minister Vajpayee represented Lucknow in Lok Sabha – for four terms since 1991 – residents of the state capital used to feel privileged, a feeling that had diminished somewhat when BJP veteran, Tandon was a member of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council for two terms (1978–84) and a member of Legislative Assembly for three terms (1996–2009). He was chosen by the party to contest the 2009 Lok Sabha election, which he won by a margin of about 40,000 votes, defeating Rita Bahuguna Joshi of the Congress. Now, Joshi, an MLA from Lucknow (cantonment), is pitted against Rajnath Singh, and the contest...