The BJP on Sunday asserted that nomination of former Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson Najma Heptullah as its Vice Presidential candidate had nothing to do with her religion.
“Ms Heptullah is the best candidate for the post not because she is a woman or that she belongs to a minority community, but she had an experience of 17 years of running the Upper House as its Vice Chairperson,” the senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said while addressing the concluding session of two-day BJP’s minority cell executive meeting here on Sunday.
“No other person, be it Rashid Masood or Hamid Ansari, can fit into the frame of the Vice President,” she observed.
Ms Swaraj also called upon her party workers to make sustained efforts to  dispel the “myth” that the BJP was an anti-minority party.
She admitted that “because of the myth it is hard on the part of a BJP worker to convince people from minority community about the party’s stand on minority issues.”
Misinformed
“Minorities have been misinformed by all parties all the times that BJP is against them. This myth has to be dispelled,”  said Ms Swaraj, urging her party workers to explain the “reality” to minorities with facts and figures.
In this context the senior BJP leader termed the Sachar Committee report as a mirror that reflects the condition of minorities during the 54 years of Congress rule.

‘I want to become president’
Srinagar, uni: Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference (NC) patron Farooq Abdullah said he wanted to become the President of India and not the Vice-President.
Speaking at a function here on Saturday evening, Dr Abdullah said he was not power hungry, referring to the controversy surrounding his nomination as the Vice-President of India.
“I am not power hungry. I have made it categorically clear that I want to become the President and not the Vice-President,’’ the NC patron added.
Dr Abdullah said a defamation campaign had been launched against him as some people were frustrated with his returning to politics in the state.