SP fields comedian Raju Srivastava for LS polls

Lucknow : The Samajwadi Party has decided to field stand-up comedian Raju Srivastava from Kanpur in the next Lok Sabha election. SP national general secretary Ramgopal Yadav announced his candidature on Wednesday.

The party also named sitting MPs Bal Kumar Patel for Mirzapur and Radhey Mohan Singh for Ghazipur.

Raju Srivastava, who hails from Kidwai Nagar locality of Kanpur, had campaigned extensively for Congress MLA Ajay Kanpur in Kidwai Nagar constituency during the Assembly elections last year. He had also campaigned for the Congress in the Bihar Assembly elections.

Presently, Kanpur is represented by Union Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal who has held this seat since 1999. Bal Kumar Patel is the brother of slain dacoit Dadua. Patel’s son Ram Singh is Samajwadi Party MLA from Patti in Pratapgarh.

Recently, he was in the news over the alleged abduction of a member during the election of the zila panchayat chairman in Chitrakoot.