The Congress late on Monday announced the candidature of champion boxer Vijender Singh from South Delhi constituency. He will take on sitting BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri and Raghav Chadha of the Aam Aadmi Party.
“In more than 20 yrs of my career in boxing I have always made my country proud in the ring. Now it’s time to do something for my countrymen & serve them,” Vijender Singh tweeted, thanking the party, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for the “responsibility”.
In more than 20 yrs of my career in boxing i have always made my country proud in the ring. Now its time to do something for my countrymen & serve them. I would like to accept this opportunity & thank @INCIndia party @RahulGandhi ji @priyankagandhi ji for this responsibility
— Vijender Singh (@boxervijender) April 22, 2019
Singh, who won the bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, later turned to professional boxing.
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Earlier in the day, the Congress had announced candidates for six of the seven Delhi seats. While Ajay Maken has been fielded from New Delhi, JP Agarwal will contest from Chandni Chowk, Arvinder Singh Lovely from East Delhi, Rajesh Lilothia from North-West Delhi and Mahbal Mishra from West Delhi.
After being fielded from North East Delhi, Sheila Dikshit said, “I will do my best to fulfil the responsibility given to me. I have contested from here earlier, I know the people here and they know me. We had started Metro from here, our reputation is of working for the people.”
The announcements came after talks for a tie-up with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) failed.
In all, the Congress has so far declared candidates for 422 Lok Sabha seats.