Rae Bareli, Apr. 19 - It was an uphill task for all political parties, particularly BJP to find out a suitable candidate who could stand contest in Rae Bareli  agaisnt Sonia Gandhi, the most popular leader of the masses. To defeat her is not a child's play.

At least BJP was extremely worried, there was no one who could go for an easy defeat. Ultimately, they selected Katiyar to stand as a candidate against Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the by-polls to the prestigious Rae Bareli seat, just to complete the formality. 

The BJP on Tuesday announced the name of their candidate Vinay Katiyar, who has been a strong critic of the Congress chief, for the by-polls, to be held on May 8. He who was initially reluctant to contest the by-election, but later on persuaded to complete the formality and the contest again Sonia Gandhi would naturally give him a great political publicity.

Katiyar is of a firm opinion that he would be able to give a tough fight to Sonia Gandhi in Rae Bareli by-polls.

The earlier decision wa to field the former Bajrang Dal chief, which  taken at a meeting conducted by Rajnath Singh with senior party leaders from Uttar Pradesh, including state unit chief Kesari Nath Tripathi and senior leaders Kalraj Mishra and party national vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, in Varanasi today, party sources said. However, the decision was changed in favor of Katiyar, when he expressed his confidence to fight the elections against Sonia Gandhi.