Will leave Lucknow for Narendra Modi: Lalji Tandon

LUCKNOW: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and MP from Lucknow, Lalji Tandon, on Monday rejected reports that he has refused to give up the “safe seat” for party chief Rajnath Singh, saying no BJP leader has laid claim on the party’s candidature from Lucknow so far.

Tandon blamed the media for “twisting” his statement that he was willing to step aside only for the party’s prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi. “It was a statement in my personal capacity with high regards to a man whom the whole nation has already accepted as the PM. The media played it as if I was against Rajnath Singh ji,” he said.

When asked if he would forsake the seat if Singh expressed desire to contest from Lucknow, Tandon said: “Rajnath ji is like my brother. If he has an issue about any seat, he will come here and the two of us will sort out.” “Who is bigger—the party or an individual? The organisation is bigger than any individual.

Whatever decision is taken by the party, it will be final and bound on me as well as any other member,” 79-year-old Tandon told journalists in Lucknow.

Meanwhile, BJP leader Kalraj Mishra termed as “baseless rumour” reports that sitting MP from Varanasi, Murli Manohar Joshi, was being asked to contest from Kanpur this time. “Yeh koi naya prapanch hai (This is a new trick to beguile our supporters),” he said. Mishra has said that he is ready to contest against Union coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal, who is the sitting MP from Kanpur.

Calling the media’s role as ‘hasyaspad’ (laughable), Mishra said, “Please wait till March 13. The party’s election committee is scheduled to make the list public on March 13 and it will remain bound to the date. I don’t understand why suddenly the media has become hyperactive about disagreement in the party over claimants for some seats.” Congress leaders in Uttar Pradesh are gleefully watching the media attention over the infighting in the BJP.