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Tewari hails Kher for acknowledging his city roots amid BJP’s ‘outsider’ jibes
During an interaction with media, while BJP national president JP Nadda was in the city, Kirron Kher said Manish Tewari was a son of Chandigarh just like she was a daughter of Chandigarh
While the BJP has been tagging Congress nominee from Chandigarh, Manish Tewari, as an outsider, party’s sitting MP Kirron Kher, in a contrasting view, acknowledged him as “son of Chandigarh” at an event on Friday.
During an interaction with media, while BJP national president JP Nadda was in the city, Kher said Tewari was a son of Chandigarh just like she was a daughter of Chandigarh. She remarked that she was also called an outsider when she first fought from the Chandigarh seat in 2014.
In contrast, since the Congress announced Tewari’s candidature on April 13, the BJP has been labelling him as an outsider, stating he had previously won from Anandpur Sahib and Ludhiana, and had no experience of working in Chandigarh.
Tweeting a video of Kher’s statement, Tewari on Saturday hailed her for recognising his connection with Chandigarh, where he was born, raised and educated.
When asked to comment on Kher’s remarks during an informal interaction with reporters on Saturday, Tewari thanked her for silencing her own party leaders who had been describing him as an outsider. “This, despite the fact that I was born here, brought up here, educated here and where my father, Vishwanath Tewari, was martyred for the unity and integrity of the country, and for defending Punjab, Punjabi and Punjabiyat,” he said.
While referring to Chandigarh BJP candidate Sanjay Tandon, Tewari said it was a different story that those who were describing him as an outsider, themselves ranked as outsiders, as they come from Amritsar.
The former Union minister also rapped BJP president JP Nadda for seeking five more years to resolve various issues in Chandigarh. “What you could not do in 10 years, how can you do it in five years?” he asked the BJP president.
Hitting out at Nadda, Tewari said people of Chandigarh were feeling cheated and deceived that the BJP was still asking five more years for solving their issues, which should ideally not have taken even five months if there was a sincere intention to do that.
