With the last two phases of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls remaining, two Union ministers from the state have supported Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s assertion that the BJP should have fielded Muslims in what is touted as the semifinals of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Singh, a former UP chief minister, had recently said that the BJP should have given tickets to Muslims. He also defended the party, saying the absence of winnable candidates might have prompted the decision not to try out candidates from the minority community.
Union Ministers Uma Bharti and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi second the view of Singh, also an MP from Lucknow. “As far as tickets are concerned, it would have been better (if tickets were given to Muslims). (Now) we will address their concerns by compensating them when we form the government in the state,” Naqvi, the minority affairs minister, said here.
Naqvi, a parliamentarian from Rampur in UP, said the BJP believes in taking along all the sections of the society.
Confident of victory
Naqvi exuded confidence that the party will come to power in the state just as “we formed the government at the Centre with cooperation from all”.
Meanwhile, Uma, minister for water resources and the party’s star campaigner, told a news channel: “Rajnath Singhji was right when he said we could have given them (Muslims) tickets. But sometimes winnability (sic) factor prevails both in the case of Muslims and women.” The MP from Jhansi claimed she would take up this issue with BJP national president Amit Shah.
They say otherwise
Other leaders, however, refuse to buy the Muslim reachout suggestion. Leader Vinay Katiyar opposed the idea on the grounds that it is not worth nominating Muslims when they do not vote for the lotus (BJP). “Why should the party give tickets to Muslims when they don’t vote for the BJP?” he told a news channel.
