Congress will be eliminated after state polls, says MP Jagdambika Pal

Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Domariyaganj, Jagdambika Pal, on Thursday said that the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party were undergoing “political insolvency” and the saffron party would see unprecedented success in the Maharashtra election.

Mr Pal further said that Maharashtra was the place where grand old party had its genesis and where it would see its downfall.

“The Congress was founded at Mumbai’s historic Gowalia Tank Maidan. After the Assembly election, the Congress will be eliminated in Maharashtra,” the former UP CM said, adding that Mahatma Gandhi used to say that the Congress should be disbanded after the country attained independence.

Mr Pal, who has been a two-time MP on the Congress ticket, joined the BJP in 2014.

Mr Pal, who has been campaigning in Mumbai Metropolitan Region and Nashik, said that the Congress failed to keep its flock together and many loyal leaders had deserted it.

He also claimed that the ministers of the Central and state governments were corruption-free.

Asked why tickets had been denied to close to half a dozen ministers, the BJP leader said that corruption charges were not the only reason for denying tickets. “In our party, there are certain parameters, which need to be fulfilled for candidates to get tickets. In the last Lok Sabha election, 20 to 25 sitting MPs were denied tickets in UP. New people have been given them. Out of 80, we got 64 seats in UP. The age factor, accessibility to the common man and how much one nurtures one’s constituency are factors.”