‘Told Not to Contest Lok Sabha Polls’: Murli Manohar Joshi

Veteran BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi.

(Photo: Reuters)

Veteran BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi on Tuesday, 26 March, said that he has been told not to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Speaking to CNN-News18, he was quoted as saying, "Like LK Advani, I have been told not to contest."

Joshi is currently a member of Parliament from the Kanpur constituency in Uttar Pradesh. From 2009 to 2014, he was an MP from the Varanasi constituency, which was from where PM Narendra Modi subsequently contested.

Notably, Joshi's name, along with Advani's, is also missing from the list of 40 star campaigners for the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, reported ANI.

A letter addressed to the voters of Kanpur, purportedly from Joshi, has also been circulating the social media, wherein he points that the BJP has “conveyed” to him to not contest the Lok Sabha election “from Kanpur and elsewhere”.

A letter addressed to the voters of Kanpur, purportedly from Joshi.(Photo: The Quint)

This development comes after another BJP veteran, LK Advani, was not fielded from the Gandhinagar seat for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Instead, the party announced the candidature of Amit Shah from the Gujarat capital. Ninety-one-year-old Advani has won the Gandhinagar seat six times.

‘So-Called Family Run Parties Treat Senior Leaders With Respect’

Reacting to the sidelining of the veteran BJP leaders, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said that the “so-called family run parties” treat senior leader with “far more respect.”

“Looking at how the BJP has treated senior leaders like Advani Sb, Joshi Sb & Sinha Sb I can safely say so called family run parties treat their senior leaders with far more respect,” [sic], Abdullah said in a tweet.

Similarly, Aam Aadmi Party President and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal reacted saying PM Modi has insulted the veteran leaders by not letting them contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Kejriwal noted that the attitude of the Prime Minister is against the Hindu culture which teaches people to respect their elders.

"The way Modi is insulting L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, it is completely against the Hindu culture. Hindu culture teaches people to respect their elders and not insult them.

"People are talking about why Modi is insulting Joshi and Sushma Swaraj," he said in a series of tweets.

(With inputs from PTI)