Angry over denial of BJP ticket, former Union Minister and party veteran Jaswant Singh is all set to contest the lok Sabha elections as an Independent candidate from the Barmer seat and will file his nomination papers on Monday. Singh said he would not yet resign from the party and thanked his party colleague Sushma Swaraj for her support. At the same time, he rejected party chief Rajnath Singh’s offer to adjust him suitably and said he was not a piece of furniture which can be moved around for adjustment.
While Singh remained defiant, his son and BJP MlA Manvendra Singh also seemed to follow in his father’s footstep. The junior Singh has sought leave from the party’s work, obviously in an attempt to boycott the electioneering. When contacted, Manvendra told PTI that he was “extremely stressed out” and was resting. “I have informed the party that I am stressed out and need some rest,” he said.
Ignoring BJP leader Arun Jaitley call to accept denial of ticket with a smile, Jaswant Singh said, “Yes, I am filing my nomination papers tomorrow from Barmer. Independent, or not will depend on the party’s attitude.” Singh, however, is not resigning from the party yet and said he would consult his colleagues before taking that step. Singh said nobody in the BJP had tried to reach him ever since he set the 48-hour deadline for quitting the party. “If I am not emotional about my home and my party, then what am I going to be emotional about...If the party decides to talk to me, they know my numbers and how I can be reached. Since I came here, nobody has tried to reach me,” he said.
Upset about Rajnath Singh’s remarks that he can be adjusted suitably and his services will be utilised appropriately, Jaswant Singh said, “I am not a piece of furniture. The choice of the adjective ‘adjust’ itself is indicative of the mentality. You cannot adjust with principles and it is insulting”. Slamming the BJP president’s remarks that the party will compensate him after the elections, Singh said, “I reject the thought and I reject the mentality behind it. Assumption is that they shall form the Government and offer me some throttle. They can keep it for themselves”.
He said the “thoughts behind these chain of words are full of arrogance and disrespect”. He also thanked Sushma Swaraj for expressing anguish at denial of ticket to him. On posters of Narendra Modi being torn up by Jaswant Singh’s supporters in Rajasthan, the former Union Minister said, “If the posters are being torn up, then I think the party has to reflect deeply why is this happeningIJ”
Meanwhile, senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said leaders should sometime accept “no” after being showered with privileges and that his loyalty is at test. “Membership of political party is a privilege. It is also an act of self oppression where personal views and ambitions are subjected to collective wisdom of the party. At times, the party may flood leaders with privileges and positions. On other occasions, the leader may have to take ‘no’ as an answer to his desires,” Jaitley wrote on his website.
He said the politician or leader denied a ticket must accept the decision with a “smile”. “This becomes a test of his loyalty and discipline. Restraint and silence are always a preferred option. Over reaction may prove be a transient storm in a tea cup. Silence is always dignified and more gracious,” he said in an apparent reference to Singh without naming him.
Jaitley, contesting from Amritsar seat, said in election season, many political persons desirous of being candidates succeed in getting a party nomination, but many more get left out. In Jaisalmer, members of BJP’s district unit forcibly entered the party office and held a meeting where they opposed denial of ticket to Jaswant Singh from Barmer and demanded that the leadership review its decision.
The meeting was chaired by BJP leader Bhanwar Singh Sadhna and attended by scores of workers at party office here. It was an injustice with party workers of Barmer and Jaisalmer, especially Jaswant Singh, and the party should review its decision, Sadhna said.