BJP names Olympic medallist Yogeshwar Dutt as party candidate for Baroda bypoll in Haryana
Chandigarh: The ruling BJP on Thursday named party leader and Olympic medallist Yogeshwar Dutt as its nominee for the bypoll to the Baroda assembly constituency.
According to a party statement, the wrestler-turned-politician will contest the November 3 bypoll from Baroda seat in Sonipat.
The last date to file nomination for the bypoll is Friday.
The bye-election was necessitated due to the demise of Congress MLA Shri Krishan Hooda in April. In the 2019 assembly polls, Dutt had lost to Hooda from the seat.
Till about midnight, the Congress was yet to announce its candidate for the seat.
Earlier in the morning, some sports personalities including BJP leader Babita Phogat, Sakshi Malik, Geeta Phogat and Dutt had met Chief Minister M L Khattar in Delhi.
The sportspersons batted for Dutt's candidature for the Baroda seat, which the saffron party has never won. Khattar earlier said that the party's state unit had discussed 25 names, but shortlisted four and sent it to the party high command.
The party on Thursday evening announced Dutt's name for the seat.
The wrestler-turned-politician, who hails from Bhainswal Kalan village in Sonipat district, had joined the BJP in 2019 ahead of the state assembly polls.
Dutt, who won the bronze medal in the 2012 Olympic Games, also won a gold medal in the 2014 Commonwealth Games and was awarded the Padma Shri in 2013.
Ahead of the next month's bypolls, Dutt has been actively campaigning in the constituency.
The leaders of the BJP, which is contesting the bypoll with the backing of its ally Jannayak Janta Party, have exuded confidence that they will wrest the seat from the Congress.
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Man arrested with Rs 2.54-crore heroin in Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): Police have arrested a man and seized over 500 grams of heroin worth Rs 2.54 crore in the illicit market from him in Mumbai, officials said on Friday.
The police's Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) made the drug seizure in Santacruz in the western suburbs. The operation was conducted by the Kandivali unit of the ANC on Thursday as part of a special crackdown against drug trafficking in the area, they said.
Acting on specific inputs, an ANC team conducted a raid in Santacruz (East) and intercepted a man. During a search, the team recovered 508 grams of high-grade heroin from his possession, an official said.
The seized contraband, a highly addictive, opioid drug derived from morphine, is estimated to be worth Rs 2.54 crore in the international market, he informed.
Following the seizure, a case was registered against the man under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and he was formally placed under arrest in the early hours of Friday.
The police are currently investigating the source of the drug and trying to identify the intended recipients of the consignment, he said.
