Amit Shah to remain BJP President, won’t join govt

Lucknow: BJP president Amit Shah on Monday denied reports that he would leave his party position to join the Modi government after being elected to Rajya Sabha.

“There is no question of doing so. I have the responsibility of being the party president. I am happy, and I am working wholeheartedly. The media should not push the issue,” he said.

Three MLCs — two from the SP and one from BSP — who had resigned from their respective parties and from the membership of the UP legislative council on Saturday, joined the BJP on Monday.

Talking to reporters, Mr Shah made it clear that the party had not promised any “return gift” to these leaders. “Such a word does not exist in my party’s dictionary,” he said.

“Reports of Mr Shivpal Yadav joining the BJP are also misplaced. There was never any such proposal and nor was it under consideration,” he said.

There have been speculative reports in the media that the Samajwadi Party’s Shivpal Yadav is likely to join the BJP soon.

Mr Shah, while wrapping up his three-day visit to Lucknow, emphatically denied that the BJP had played any role in the break-up of the Grand Alliance in Bihar.

“Should I have pointed a gun at them to keep them together? Nitish Kumar resigned because he did not wish to stay with corrupt elements”, Mr Shah said. Mr Shah attacked the Congress for not trusting its own MLAs and making them prisoners in a hotel room in Bengaluru.

“It can be understood if they speak about Gujarat. But why are they (Congress MLAs) being kept in locked rooms in Bengaluru... you must understand that,” he said.

The three MLCs who have joined the BJP are Yeshwant Singh, Bhukkal Nawab (both SP) and Jaiveer Singh (BSP).

Replying to a question, the BJP president said that there was no politics in his lunch meeting at a party worker’s house.

“Please do not search for any politics in it. Earlier, too, I have eaten at the house of a booth-level worker who is a dalit and, on Sunday, I had lunch at the home of another worker who happens to belong to the Yadav community. They are party workers for me first”, he stated.

Talking about the Ram temple, Mr Shah said that the temple issue was very much on the agenda of his party, but the construction would begin either on court orders or through negotiations with all stakeholders.

Terming Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the “undisputedly most popular PM”, Mr Shah said the government had “succeeded in ending the politics of family, caste and appeasement in the country”. He asserted that in three years of the Modi government, there has not been a single allegation of corruption.

Mr Shah said that the BJP would emerge with greater majority on the basis of development and good governance alone in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Replying to questions, Mr Shah ruled out the possibility of UP’s deputy chief minister Keshav Maurya being shifted to the Centre.