Days after the BJP issued a show cause notice to its MP Jayant Sinha for ' not taking interest in poll campaign'. the former union minister on Wednesday responded saying that he was being “unfairly targeted”.
The party on May 20 issued a show cause notice to Jayant Sinha for not participating in campaigning after MLA Manish Jaiswal was declared candidate from the Hazaribag Lok Sabha seat, thereby “maligning” the party’s image.
Jayant Sinha was denied a ticket to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Hazaribagh.
Meanwhile, late on Wednesday, Sinha posted his reply on social media platform X saying that it was “beyond his understanding” that the letter was sent when the elections were over and that he was “extremely surprised” to know that the notice was also released to the media.
In the letter addressed to BJP State General Secretary Sahu, Sinha said that he had already had a conversation with BJP National President JP Nadda on March 2 where he stated that he had requested him to be relieved from active election duties and also posted the same on platform X.
He had then said that he wanted to focus on issues arising from global climate change, but would, however, “gladly continue” to work with the party on the economic and government related issues.
"Meanwhile, if the party wanted me to participate in any kind of election activities, then definitely you could have contacted me. However, after my announcement on March 2, no senior party functionary or MP/MLA from Jharkhand contacted me. I was not invited to any party program, rally or organisational meeting. If Babulal Marandi ji wanted to include me in the programs then he could have definitely invited me but he did not do so,” Sinha wrote on Wednesday.
He added that when he was in Delhi on April 29, Jaiswal had also invited him to join in his nomination rally on May 1, which he had said would not be possible.
“Therefore, after reaching Hazaribagh on May 2, I went straight to Manish Jaiswal ji’s residence to pay him a courtesy call. He was not present there, so I conveyed my message and best wishes to his family. After this I had no further contact with Manish ji. Subsequently returned to Delhi from Hazaribagh on May 3,” Sinha wrote.
He stated that he had gone abroad on May 10 after informing the Lok Sabha Speaker.
“Since the party had not invited me to any program, I did not see any special need to stay there. Before leaving I had cast my vote through the postal ballot process. Therefore, it is wrong to allege that I did not perform my voting duty…it is inappropriate in my view for you to release the letter publicly. Apart from disappointing the dedicated party workers, this attitude of yours is also going to weaken the collective efforts of the party. Additionally, despite my loyalty and hard work towards the party, it appears that I am being unfairly targeted,” Sinha added.
