‘Unjustly targeted’: Jayant on BJP show-cause notice

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, May 23

Former Union Minister of State for Finance and BJP’s outgoing Lok Sabha MP from Hazaribagh, Jayant Sinha, on Thursday said he was being unjustly targeted despite repeated demonstration of unwavering commitment to the party and had voted in the fifth phase when the segment went to polls.

I would not be surprised if the BJP expelled Jayant. Babulal Marandi does not want Jayant. He wants his own people. Yashwant Sinha, Former union minister

In a two-page reply to the show-cause notice sent by Jharkhand BJP office-bearer Aditya Sahu, who had questioned the MPs absence from campaign and on voting day, Sinha said he was never invited for any party event after he announced withdrawal from Lok Sabha race on March 2. He also claimed that he had cast a postal ballot.

The developments signal the prominence of Babulal Marandi in Jharkhand BJP and the sidelining of Sinha, whose family has dominated Hazaribagh LS seat for 26 years. Before him, his father and ex-Union Minister Yashwant Sinha held the seat.

Manish Jaiswal, who replaced Jayant, is a close Marandi aide and a son of his former confidant in Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik), a party Marandi had floated after quitting the BJP. Marandi, a tall tribal leader, had returned to the BJP only in 2020, after 14 years. During the period of separation, he floated his own outfit and is now promoting his loyalists.