Veteran BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi on Tuesday said he has been asked by the party not to contest the polls. Within hours, BJP nominated Khadi and Gramodyog Minister in Yogi Government Satyadeo Pachauri from Joshi’s Kanpur seat.
In a statement, Joshi said the party general secretary (organisation) Ram Lal has asked him not to contest the LS poll. The statement was released for the voters of Kanpur, from where Joshi had won in 2014 by getting 57 per cent of the vote.
Joshi heads Parliament’s Estimates Committee and some of its observations, including on jobs, the GDP and non-performing assets, recently embarrassed the Union Government.
Earlier, another senior party leader from UP Kalraj Mishra had announced not to contest the elections from his Deoria seat.
Later in the day, the BJP released the list declaring Pachauri as party’s candidate from Kanpur
Defending the party’s decision of denying ticket to Joshi, UP Minister Sidharthanath Singh said, “He is our founder member and the party respects him in the team of mardarshak mandal. It is an internal matter of the party.”