NEW DELHI, May 23
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jayant Sinha, responding to party’s show-cause notice, charged he is being unjustly targeted and the public issuance of the letter undermines the party’s collective efforts.
In the letter to the party’s Jharkhand state secretary Aditya Sahu, Sinha said he was surprised to receive the letter from the party and added he had made public his decision to step back from elections. “I withdrew from elections on March 2. After consulting Shri Nadda ji and getting his explicit approval, I made it clear publicly that I was not going to be involved in this election,” he said.
He added, “If the party had wanted me to participate in any election activities, you could surely have contacted me. However, not a single party official or MP/MLA from Jharkhand reached out to me post my announcement. I was not invited for any party events, rallies or organizational meetings.”
Sinha added he couldn’t join Hazaribagh candidate Manish Jaiswal’s nomination filing rally due to late notice. The BJP leader added he later visited Jaiswal’s house and conveyed wishes to his family as the candidate was not there.
Sinha also added he left India on May 10 to attend to pressing commitments overseas, after informing the Lok Sabha speaker. “The party had not asked to me participate in any events, so I saw no reason to stay. Before leaving India, I sent my vote through the postal ballot process. Therefore, it is wrong for you to allege that I did not exercise my responsibility to vote,” he said.
Highlighting his contributions, Sinha said, “Given my contributions to the party and the circumstances detailed above the public issuance of your letter is unseemly. Your approach demoralizes dedicated party workers and undermines the party’s collective efforts.” He added, “Despite my loyalty and hard work for the party, it appears that I am being unjustly targeted.” The former MP said while they could have spoken over the phone on the issues, “to send a letter after the elections are over, is incomprehensible”.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday slapped a show cause notice on former Union Minister Jayant Sinha for not taking part in campaigning after Manish Jaiswal was declared candidate from the Hazaribag Lok Sabha seat and thereby “maligning” the party’s image.
The party had sought an explanation from Jayant Sinha within two days.
