Denied poll ticket thrice, Rajnath's son Pankaj Singh biding his time

LUCKNOW: It doesn't always help to be the son of a political heavyweight. Pankaj Singh, 36, heir to Union home minister and former BJP president Rajnath Singh, may have got a smooth entry into politics. But surviving by its rules is a different ball game: something the youthful general secretary of Uttar Pradesh BJP must, by now, have a first-hand idea of.

As a matter of fact, Pankaj's 12-year political career is marked by signposts that do not add to his curriculum vitae. He took the plunge into politics in 2002 when he campaigned for his father, who was then the UP chief minister, in Haidergarh. Although Rajnath won, BJP was trounced, and it ended up supporting Mayawati's BSP to form the government. The defeat led to a temporary exile for Rajnath, but Pankaj began working at the grassroots in Varanasi and surrounding areas. His efforts earned him a berth in Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha's executive committee in 2004.

Three years later, before the 2007 UP assembly election, Pankaj was elevated to UP BJP's executive committee. He was offered a ticket from Chirayigaon in Varanasi. Rajnath was BJP president then. Sources say fear of opprobrium, that the son the party president was given a ticket, forced Rajnath to ask him return it, which he duly did.

Pankaj's stillborn electoral career notwithstanding, he rose quickly within the party organization, and was made secretary of the party in UP in 2009, and general secretary two years later. The UP BJP chief then was Surya Pratap Shahi, who launched Gaon Chalo programme in which Pankaj was involved. He was made UP BJP general secretary during Shahi's successor, Laxmikant Bajpayi's term as state chief, in 2013: a post he holds.

In 2012, Pankaj was again in contention for the Noida assembly, but once more being Rajnath's son proved a handicap. In this year's Lok Sabha elections, he successfully coordinated Narendra Modi's rallies in UP and oversaw his father's campaign in Lucknow.

With 12 assembly bypolls forced after BJP MLAs were elected to the Lok Sabha, Pankaj once showed interest in a ticket: this time from Noida. But he was third time unlucky. While it's facetiously being said Rajnath's reduced clout led to his omission, others maintain Rajnath himself has discouraged him from contesting, asking him instead to prepare for the 2017 elections.

Some of Pankaj's supporters say he ought not to target anything less than the CM's chair. Although he denies such ambition — he will be only 39 then — he will certainly get the chance for a dry run for the big start he seeks in politics. But before that, the man with an MBA degree, will have to understand the virtue of patience. His wife Sushma was an international shooter who won gold in CWG 2006. Ace marksman Jaspal Rana is his brother-in-law. There is no reason why Pankaj should be consistently off target.