On Friday (27th February) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) named senior leader and Atal Bihari Vajpayee's protégé Lalji Tandon as the party candidate for the Lok Sabha polls from the Lucknow constituency in Uttar Pradesh. The announcement came after party chief Rajnath Singh called on the former Prime Minister and sitting MP from Lucknow, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, party sources said.

 

Later Singh said in a statement released from the party headquarters that, Tandon would be the party's candidate from Lucknow. Earlier BJP had made it clear that any announcement on a candidate from Vajpayee's sitting seat would only be taken as per the choice of the former Prime Minister. Since long Tandon, has been the constituency in-charge for Vajpayee. He became minister in Kalyan Singh government.

 

Later Tondon was also appointed as urban development minister in the Maywati regime of the BJP-BSP alliance. The leader was in news prior to the 2004 Lok Sabha polls when 20 people were killed in a stampede on his birthday function while distributing sarees to the poor.