Jaswant Singh threatens to expose BJP, may quit party tomorrow

India Today

New Delhi, March 22, 2014 : Denied poll ticket from the Barmer constituency, a miffed BJP veteran Jaswant Singh is likely to resign from the party tomorrow.

The senior BJP leader, who is reportedly upset over not being allowed to contest from his home constituency, has even threatened to expose the party.

"I will decide my next course of action on March 24", Singh said.

 

The development comes on a day when the BJP snubbed Jaswant’s request to contest from the home constituency in his last election and nominated Colonel Sona Ram instead at the behest of Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.

Jaswant, 76, had earlier conveyed to BJP president Rajnath Singh that he would be left with no option but contest as an Independent candidate if the party did not nominate him from Barmer, sources said. By Friday evening, speculation was rife that the former Union minister could go ahead with the same option.

A BJP legislator, Jaswant’s son Manvendra told Mail Today that he was not in a position to either confirm or deny the reports about his father’s decision of contesting as Independent candidate.

A final picture would emerge only after his father arrives on Sunday, he added.

Manvendra had won from the Barmer Lok Sabha constituency as the BJP nominee in 2004. Sources close to Jaswant, however, confirmed that the party workers had already procured nomination papers for him and a detailed reception was under preparation for their leader. If everything went on as per the plan, then Jaswant would file his papers as an Independent on March 24 making the contest triangular. The Congress has re-nominated its sitting MP Harish Choudhary from Barmer.

Raje’s opposition to Jaswant was clear when she got former Congress leader, Colonel Sona Ram, defected to the BJP on Monday. Raje had already assured of a BJP ticket on the verge of the BJP parliamentary board meeting, sources close to Ram said.