Jaswant should have accepted party decision: Rajnath

Jaswant Singh should have accepted the decision of not fielding him from Barmer in Rajasthan as the issue of ticket could not be the yardstick of his "value" in the party, according to BJP President Rajnath Singh.

Singh, while rejecting the perception that senior leaders were being sidelined in the party, said the services of experienced and senior leaders would be utilised even if they did not get the chance to contest the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.

"Absolutely nobody is being sidelined. If somebody did not get ticket, it doesn't mean he has no value in the party. He can be given position in Parliament, Assembly or party. Also if the government is formed, there can be positions in institutions," the BJP chief told PTI.

His attention was drawn to Jaswant Singh, who was expelled from the party after he decided to contest the polls from Barmer, and asked whether his decision to fight the elections was wrong.

"It would have been better if he had accepted the party's decision. Till you get a ticket, you accept the party's decision and when you don't, then you don't accept the decision. This should not happen," he said.

In an apparent message to Jaswant Singh, he said, "One should practice politics of principles and ideology."

Jaswant Singh, a former External Affairs Minister, had expressed his desire to contest from Barmer but the party gave the ticket to former Congress member Sonaram Chaudhary, who joined BJP recently. Jaswant then entered the poll fray as an Independent.

Rajnath Singh's attention was also drawn to comments by another senior leader Murli Manohar Joshi that the decision on Jaswant Singh was not taken by the BJP Election Committee but by the party President alone.

Replying to this, the BJP chief said, "The Election Committee had authorised me to take the decision. I discussed the issue with everyone and took the decision."
Asked if Joshi was lying then, Rajnath Singh said, "I won't say that. May be he did not have knowledge about the facts."

He was asked about another controversial statement by Joshi that there is no Modi wave but a BJP wave.

"He (Joshi) has already clarified," Rajnath Singh said, adding, "Anyway Modi and BJP cannot be separated. Both supplement each other."

To a question on what role party veteran L K Advani will have if BJP forms the government, he said, "The party will decide who gets what responsibility after the elections and Advaniji will be part of that decision."

He insisted that there were no problems within BJP and the opponents were unnecessarily focussing on its internal matters. He saw a political conspiracy in this.

"Unlike Congress and communists, BJP never split. Then why is there repeated discussion about our party. This is a political conspiracy by our rivals, including Congress," he said.