PTI

Rae Bareli, May 6: BJP leader Vinay Katiyar is ploughing a lonely furrow in this Lok Sabha constituency.

It has been a herculean task for the former Bajrang Dal chief who reluctantly entered the fray against Congress President Sonia Gandhi for the May 8 by-poll to take on her virtually single-handedly.

Katiyar, who came into prominence during BJP's Ayodhya movement, has been virtually left to fend for himself in the absence of tall party leaders to garner votes for him.

Top party leaders have been preoccupied with two simultaneous Bharat Suraksha Yatras -- one led by party President Rajnath Singh and another by Leader of the Opposition L K Advani.

The tragedy of Pramod Mahajan made matters worse for him as almost everybody who is anybody in BJP made a beeline to Mumbai first to inquire about the BJP General Secretary's health and later to pay their last respects to him.

The death of Mahajan came at a time when just a day or two was left for the campaigning to end.

Initially, Katiyar was not ready to cross swords with Gandhi but after an assurance from the BJP leadership that senior leaders would campaign for him, he agreed to file the nomination papers.

Katiyar then filed his documents amidst much fanfare in the presence of Mahajan and party Vice President Kalyan Singh. It had been planned that Mahajan would campaign for Katiyar for two-three days to make the contest serious. But fate willed otherwise and Kalyan Singh too fell ill and had to be hospitalized.