Nishikant Dubey, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Godda said on Wednesday, 23 October, that all the party's candidates must be supported in the upcoming Jharkhand Assembly polls even if they were “handicap” or “criminals.”
He was addressing the party workers in Jamtara in Deoghar district on Wednesday.
“I want to request you all that whoever the BJP fields, be it a handicap, theif, dacoit or a naughty man, we must support that candidate. We should have faith in the decision of national president Amit Shah, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Raghubar Das,” he said, reported Hindustan Times.
In his defence, Dubey said that he was speaking metaphorically to make the point that whosoever is selected by the party leadership must be supported by the party workers as BJP never fields ‘bad candidates’.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Hemant Soren said that the statement showed the BJP's apprehensions over the prospects in the upcoming elections.
“It shows the rubbish and unparliamentary thinking of the BJP MP. He describes himself as the second Chanakya but his statement is a reflection of the fear and desperation within the BJP over their electoral propects,” Soren said in a Facebook post.
He added that the real problems in the state are unemployment, inflation, corruption and the shutdown of schools and colleges.
“The BJP wants to field thieves and dacoits with an invitation to further loot out homes,” he wrote.
The Jharkhand Assembly elections are due in November-December and the election commission may announce the dates any day after Diwali festival.
(With inputs from Hindustan Times)
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