Lok Sabha Elections 2019 : Back from 48-hr poll ban, Maneka Gandhi wants Sultanpur renamed Kushbhawanpur

Maneka, who had previously drawn an emotional connect with the constituency with which her late husband Sanjay Gandhi had a deep association, said, “I am contesting the polls as a mother. Sultanpur is known as land of lord Kush and it should be named Kushbhawanpur.”

Emerging from a 48-hour ban on poll campaigning, union minister Maneka Gandhi filed her nomination papers from Sultanpur seat on Thursday after an impressive roadshow in the constituency from where her son Varun is a sitting MP.

Union minister Maneka Gandhi waves to her supporters in Sultanpur on Thursday (HT)

Maneka, who is at present an MP from Pilibhit, has swapped constituencies with Varun.

Maneka, who had previously drawn an emotional connect with the constituency with which her late husband Sanjay Gandhi had a deep association, said, “I am contesting the polls as a mother. Sultanpur is known as land of lord Kush and it should be named Kushbhawanpur.”

“It is also a land of freedom fighters. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has encouraged maximum voting and is interested in those constituencies which post maximum votes and I hope Sultanpur would be among those,” she said. Maneka said she was confident of becoming MP again.

Earlier, Maneka expressed “shock and surprise” at the poll ban, saying she had always taken minorities along with her in Pilibhit and that is something she intended to do so in Sultanpur, too.

Sanjay Nishad, whose support had helped Samajwadi Party and BSP defeat the BJP candidate in Gorakhpur in the by-polls last year, lashed out at the SP-BSP alliance.

“All parties except BJP have cheated the Nishads. The BJP gave the riverine community five tickets but the SP-BSP leadership, which prospered due to the community’s vote, neglected them,” he said.

Maneka is up against Sonu Singh of BSP, who is supported by the Samajwadi Party, and Dr Sanjay Singh of Congress.