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Ticket denial led to 3 MLAs? exit, says BJP leader
THE BHARATIYA JANATA Party?s refusal to give the party ticket to its three sitting MLAs was the main reason for their decision to join the Samajwadi Party (SP).
THE BHARATIYA JANATA Party’s refusal to give the party ticket to its three sitting MLAs was the main reason for their decision to join the Samajwadi Party (SP).
State BJP president Keshari Nath Tripathi and leader of opposition in the Vidhan Sabha Lalji Tandon disclosed this here on Sunday.
The three MLAs Mahendra Singh Yadav (Bulandshahar) Amarjit Singh Jansewak (Bindki) and Shyam Singh Ahirwar (Mathura) joined the SP earlier in the day.
Tripathi and Tandon told Hindustan Times on Sunday that Amarjit Singh Jansewak was suspended from the party a few months ago for meeting BSP leaders to get a ticket and proceedings were already on for his expulsion from the party. Amarjit had no option but to join the SP as even Mayawati had denied him a ticket, they said.
All his efforts to convince the BJP leaders to prove his loyalty to the saffron brigade had failed, they added.
Tandon alleged Shyam Singh Ahirwar was involved in a number of land-grabbing cases and was desperately in need of ‘support from the Government’. This much-needed support was assured by PWD Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav and it was the secret behind Ahirwar’s new-found love for the SP, he added.
Mahendra Singh, who is the husband of IAS officer Neera Yadav, was informed by the BJP that it was not going to retain him as the party nominee in the coming Vidhan Sabha elections, said Tandon. That forced him to switch loyalties and find a new political friend, he added. He also said that none of the three had been assured a ticket even by the Samajwadi Party.
Tripathi said the psychology behind quitting the BJP was a feeling of insecurity and fear of not getting the ticket. He claimed that he was fully aware of ongoing negotiations of two more BJP legislators with rival parties and he would welcome it if they also took a similar decision in future.
It was good for the party to get rid of those who were not devoted to the organisation, he said. Both the leaders claimed that the three legislators quitting the BJP would not affect the poll prospects of the party, as it had already decided on alternative names in the three assembly constituencies concerned.
Meanwhile, an important meeting of the working committee of the BJP has been convened here on September 15 to discuss law and order, acute shortage of power and water, ‘minority appeasement’ and the party’s preparations for the elections.
