RPN Singh is the Congress candidate from Uttar Pradesh’s Kushinagar and is also a former Union minister who lost the 2014 elections. This year, he is facing tough competition from the Samajwadi Party’s Nathuni Prasad Kushwaha and the BJP's Vijay Dubey. Amidst this election enthusiasm and chaos, Quint Hindi’s Vikrant Dubey exclusively spoke to him.
How do you plan to face such tough competition?
I have always been a part of Congress and supported it. The people from the area have elected me as an MLA as well as an MP. There is a difference between state elections and the Lok Sabha elections.
And the Congress party has always performed better in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha elections. Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke of waiving farmers’ debt and promised Rs 15 lakh in the bank accounts of poor. All the promises made by PM Modi turned out to be jumlas.
PM Modi has only given speeches on TV, radio, newspaper, he forced everyone to listen to his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ and did not listen to anybody else’s ‘Mann Ki Baat’, nor did he resolve the issues of women. Not just Kushinagar, but the entire country has become hostile to PM Modi.
RPN Singh has been the principle candidate from Kushinagar seat. Though he lost to BJP in 2014, he has been Congress MLA three times from Padrauna, UP.
RPN's father CPN Singh was active in politics. He was the MP from Padrauna in 1980 and 1984.
(This story was originally published on Quint Hindi)
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