Lok Sabha polls: Was willing to contest from Rae Bareli, says Uma Bharti

NEW DELHI: A day after BJP fielded lawyer Ajay Agarwal from Rae Bareli, party leader Uma Bharti today said she was willing to contest against Sonia Gandhi but without giving up Jhansi where she was nominated much earlier.

The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister, whose name was under consideration for Rae Bareli, said she had conveyed her views to party president Rajnath Singh.

"I told him that I cannot leave Jhansi as I have already been campaigning there for quite some time. At the same time, I expressed willingness to contest from Rae Bareli in addition to Jhansi," she told PTI over phone from Jhansi.

To justify her argument, she said it was not unique for anyone to contest from two seats as a number of leaders have done so.

However, Bharti welcomed Agarwal's nomination. She said Rajnath Singh and other leaders would have realised that people of Jhansi would feel bad if I was shifted from there.

BJP was considering fielding Bharti, a firebrand leader, against Gandhi but finally decided on Agarwal last night.