Winnability only criteria for Lok Sabha election ticket, says JP Nadda

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Hamirpur, June 13

Winnability will be the only criteria for the selection of candidates for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, said JP Nadda, BJP national president, in Bilaspur today. He, however, refrained from commenting on the possibility of the party changing candidates this time. He instead said that every BJP MP had done a commendable job.

Nadda, while addressing mediapersons, said that the reservation facility being given to Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the country was being misused to benefit Muslims in the Opposition-ruled states.

He said that this revelation was made in a report of the National Commission for Backward Classes. He added that the report underlined that the state governments of West Bengal, Bihar, Rajasthan and Punjab had violated constitutional provisions provided for the welfare of OBCs, thus depriving them of their legitimate rights.

Nadda said that the leaders of all these political parties were transferring the benefits available to the OBCs to Muslims. He added that the report indicated that in West Bengal, 91.5 per cent OBC reservation benefits were given to Muslim OBCs while Hindu OBCs’ share was only 8.5 per cent. He alleged that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had strengthened anti-national elements in West Bengal by issuing the certificate of nationality to Rohingyas.

BJP state president Rajeev Bindal alleged that the Bihar Government was not issuing OBC certificates to eligible people. He said that in Punjab, the OBC reservation was 25 per cent but only 12 per cent eligible people were given the benefit.

Bindal said that in Rajasthan, seven districts fall in the Scheduled Tribes category but people living there were deprived of the benefit of OBC reservation. He added that the National Commission for Backward Classes should initiate strict action against these states to ensure justice to people.

Earlier, Nadda attended a tiffin meeting at Jhandutta that was attended by BJP national vice-president Saudan Singh, state BJP president Rajeev Bindal, former MLA Rajender Garg, sitting MLAs Jeet Ram Katwal, Randhir Sharma and Trilok Jamwal.