Will work for industrial development in UP’s Shravasti: BJP’s LS poll candidate Saket Misra

Lucknow, Apr 14 (PTI) Saket Misra, the BJP’s Lok Sabha poll candidate from Shravasti in Uttar Pradesh, says his goal is to ensure industrial development in the region.

In an interview with PTI, the former police officer and banker said he is in touch with private as well as public sector companies for setting up new industries in the area.

“Industrial development is essential to provide employment opportunities to youngsters in this Buddhist pilgrimage centre. I am in touch with private as well as public sector companies for investments and setting up new industries. I am hopeful that my two decades of relationships in the finance and banking sector will be fully utilised to achieve this promise,” Misra said. Saket Misra is the son of Nripendra Misra, the chairperson of the Ram Temple Construction Committee. Saket Misra was nominated to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council around nine months ago. His father has also been the principal secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fielded two police officers in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls — Asim Arun and Rajeshwar Singh — with both of them emerging victorious in the electoral contest.

This time, the party has fielded Misra, a former police officer, from the Shravasti Lok Sabha seat. Misra did BA Honours in Economics from Delhi’s St Stephen’s College and then bagged a management degree from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Calcutta. He got a job in an international bank but left it to prepare for civil services. He joined the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1994. Misra and Arun (former IPS officer and currently a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government) were from the same batch.

Misra worked with big banks globally but returned to India as he was keen on doing social service. “Shravasti is my maternal home and I have had a connection with this place since my childhood days. When I decided to do social service, I chose this city because I am well acquainted with the people here and their problems,” he said.

Asked why he returned to India after a successful stint in the banking and finance sector abroad, Misra said, “When I was a student, I was greatly influenced by Mahatma Gandhi and while working in the banking and finance sector, I was convinced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision towards development. Leaving everything behind, I engaged myself in social service.” The BJP leader said he joined politics “with a spirit of service”.

“I am working in the health, education and industry sectors in Shravasti. I have a detailed action plan to ensure that the youngsters of Shravasti get better employment opportunities. Because of my experience in banking and finance and industry, and two decades of investment banking, I have contacts in the country and abroad. I will make efforts to bring industrial investment in the area using my contacts in the private as well as the public sector,” he said. He added that his research team has suggested that industrial units related to agriculture and food processing will prove to be beneficial for the people of the region. Farmers will benefit from agro-based industries and food processing will provide employment opportunities to youngsters.

Misra’s native village is Kasli in the Deoria district. His father was a 1967-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer. His maternal grandfather, Pandit Badluram Shukla, had become a member of Parliament from Bahraich in 1971 on a Congress ticket. He was an MLA before that. Misra said to fulfil Modi’s target of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) winning more than 400 Lok Sabha seats, he has been working in the area for months. He also said Chief Minister Adityanath has done a lot of work for the entire Uttar Pradesh, including Shravasti. The villages here get electricity for more than 18 hours, Misra said, adding that the law-and-order situation is so good that businessmen and citizens feel safe. He said due to his attachment to Shravasti since childhood, he wants to serve the people here. But he also emphasised that “this election is being fought only on the guarantee of a developed India given by Modiji and his 10 years of work”. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the main contest in Shravasti was between the SP-BSP alliance candidate Ram Shiromani Verma and the BJP’s Daddan Mishra. Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP) Verma had won the electoral contest.

In 2014, BJP’s Daddan Mishra defeated Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Atiq Ahmed.

There are five Assembly seats in the Shravasti parliamentary segment — two (Bhinga and Shravasti) in the Shravasti district, and three (Gainsari, Tulsipur and Balrampur Sadar) in the Balrampur district. The Balrampur Sadar seat is reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs). In the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, the SP won two of the five seats — Bhinga and Gainsari — while the BJP won the remaining three. The SP on Sunday declared Ram Shiromani Verma as its candidate from the seat, while the BSP is yet to declare its candidate for the upcoming polls. Earlier, the BSP had expelled Verma for ‘anti-party activities’. He later joined the SP.

Shravasti goes to the polls on May 25. It is said that Lord Buddha spent the last 25 years of his life in Shravasti. The main tourist destination of the district is Katra Shravasti, the holy place of Lord Buddha located within the Ikauna police station limits. Buddhist temples have been built by the followers of Buddhism in Katra Shravasti.