BJP ignored senior leaders: former MP CM Babulal Gaur

BJP’s former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, 88-year-old Babulal Gaur, who, after denied a ticket, had turned rebel and forced his party to field his daughter-in-law from his Assembly seat, spoke to DH’s Anand Mishra about how the party ignored seniors in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls.

You made lot of noise against your party over ticket-distribution. You have gone silent now. Is your anger over after the party fielded your daughter-in-law?

There is no anger now because there is no issue left now. Earlier there was an issue. Earlier there was a decision to not give the ticket to me or somebody of my choice in Govindpura. There was an attempt to sacrifice me. Had they not agreed to field Krishna (his daughter-in-law), I would have contested from at least two seats, impacted the outcome in four-five seats and hurt their prospects like what Sartaj Singh (78) is doing or Ram Krishna Kusmaria (76) is doing.

Do you see chances of a BJP government formation for the fourth time?

There is hope. A government will be formed but with a thin majority, not a massive majority. This is because elections are happening in a normal scenario. There is no wave this time. In 2013-14, there was a Modi wave across the entire country. Now we have governments in both states. So, whom do we now blame for no development?

Will veterans like Sartaj Singh and Kusmaria be able to do any damage?

Why not? Their rebellion would have been resolved. They would not have gone out of the BJP had they not been denied tickets. They should have been given tickets. Tickets were distributed arbitrarily.

But there was also an age criteria. Those who have crossed the age of 75 were not to be fielded.

No criteria of age was decided for fielding candidates. An 82-year person has also been fielded. A foul game was played.

There should be some policy, some principle that is uniformly applied. You made 75-year old B S Yeddyurappa a CM face in Karnataka, fielded him in elections.

Why did you do that? We would have gone to court over this matter, but courts do not interfere in elections and party-related issues.

How do you see the Madhya Pradesh elections of 2018 impacting 2019 general elections?

Indian voters vote differently in Lok Sabha, Assembly and Municipality polls. The mindset for LS polls is yet to be formed. Everything will depend on candidates. Even in this election, much will depend on candidates. Parties have their votes but people will also take into account the credentials of candidates.

Many Congress supporters say there is a Congress wave in Madhya Pradesh in this election.

There is no wave in favour of Congress. It’s a waveless election. People are angry. It is now 15 years since one party is in power.

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