BJP forgot there’s an Alva within its own ranks too

NEW DELHI: After the Congress, it���s now the BJP���s turn to come under cloud for allegedly selling assembly tickets for monetary considerations. The BJP���s attempts to hold on to Rajasthan in the ensuing assembly polls suffered a setback on Thursday with its Bharatpur MP, Vishvendra Singh, quitting the party after hurling charges of assembly tickets being sold for a sum.

Mr Singh, who���s a scion of the Bharatpur royal family and is said to enjoy a lot of clout among the Jats hailing from the area, is now expected to throw his hat in the ring as an independent or as a Congress candidate.
���I have been an active member of BJP and political adviser to the Rajasthan chief minister. I have seen things from very close quarters. I am dismayed by the sale of tickets for the Rajasthan assembly polls and have decided to leave the party,��� the Bharatpur MP said in a statement issued in Jaipur on Thursday. He simultaneously decided to quit the Lok Sabha too.

The BJP, however, made light of his resignation, and pointed to his chequered past to argue that his departure would not affect the party���s prospects in the coming elections. Mr Singh has had stints in almost every party, including the Janata Dal and the Congress in the past. In fact, he was said to have made up his mind to cross over to the Congress on the eve of the 2004 general election, but found his entry blocked by former union minister K Natwar Singh, who then was calling the shots in the Congress.

His wife Divya Singh was the vice-president of the INLD���s Rajasthan unit till two years ago, when she decided to embrace the saffron party after being offered the ticket for the by-election to the Deeg assembly seat. She eventually won the by-poll, but quit the assembly recently.

Reacting to the resignation, BJP general secretary Gopinath Munde, who���s in-charge of the party���s affairs in Rajasthan, said: ``He was demanding too much from the party. We have tried our best to accommodate his interests, but there is a limit to things.������

���I am told that he has tendered his resignation. His departure will not affect the party,������ Mr Munde added. Referring to the reasons for the parting of ways by the mercurial Jat leader, the BJP general secretary claimed that Mr Singh had become too unreasonable in his demands for tickets for his supporters, and the party found it difficult to satisfy his demands.. While Mr Singh did not reveal his future plans, he announced that he would be contesting the assembly polls from Deeg-Kumher.