Going back on his earlier decision to contest as an Independent candidate against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh, former two-time BJP MP from Mirzapur Virendra Singh withdrew his nomination from the Ghaziabad Lok Sabha constituency on Wednesday.
“I had a meeting with LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Jaswant Singh and other top leaders. They requested me to withdraw my nomination to save the party’s image,” he said.
Virendra Singh on Monday had alleged internal politics to be rife and that tickets were being distributed to criminals. On Wednesday, he withdrew from the race and said he was not under any kind of pressure.
“I was told by the leaders that it was indeed unfair to not offer me a party ticket from Salempur. They assured that proper action would be taken,” he said.
“I have no personal enmity against BJP president Rajnath Singh. But in my letter written to him on April 17, I had specifically mentioned that if I had Rs 5 crore, the Salempur seat would have been given to me,” he said.
“My only fight was against injustice done to me. The ticket was allotted to a criminal candidate — Janata Dal (United)’s Pappu Singh,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“My only fight was against injustice done to me. The ticket was allotted to a criminal candidate — Janata Dal (United)’s Pappu Singh,” he said.
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