'BJP Made Kovind President as He Kept Quiet Over Dalit Issues': Udit Raj's Stinging Attack After Exit

New Delhi: Disgruntled Bharatiya Janata Party MP Udit Raj, who switched over to the Congress on Wednesday after being denied a ticket from North West Delhi, accused the saffron party of nominating Ram Nath Kovind for the President’s post because he ‘kept quiet’ over Dalit issues.

Launching an attack on his former party hours after his exit, Raj said, “The BJP had refused to give a ticket to Ram Nath Kovind. Because he kept quiet, he was made the President.”

Raj claimed that the BJP replaced him with Punjabi sufi singer Hans Raj Hans because he had raised his voice for Dalits. “I am sure that if I never raised my voice, then maybe I would have been made the Prime Minister,” he said.

The miffed MP said though his party wanted Dalit votes, it did not want Dalit leaders. “If at all they want a Dalit leader, he should be silent,” Raj said.

“The BJP uses internal survey to choose its candidates and even though I was deemed most popular, I was refused a ticket because I had supported Dalits in their recent protests,” Raj said.

He also attacked the party’s programmes, saying the Mudra Bank scheme “only benefited drivers and helpers of big businessmen instead of the people who actually needed it”.

Raj said he was ‘hurt’ by the fact that the BJP did not inform him of their decision earlier, leaving him hopeful of a ticket right up to the moment Hans was announced as the candidate.

On Tuesday, the MP had threatened to “bid goodbye to the party” if he was not given a ticket. Raj merged his Indian Justice Party with the BJP in February 2014 and later won the election from North West Delhi. The BJP won all seven seats in Delhi in the 2014 poll.

Hours after Raj joined the grand old party, Delhi BJP’s social media and IT cell in-charge directed his team to remove the MP from the party’s social media groups. “As you know now that Udit Raj has joined the Congress, so kindly remove his and associates mobile numbers from your groups and broadcast list so that our information is not shared with them,” a message sent by Neelkant Bakshi, co-incharge, social media and IT cell of the Delhi BJP, to his team members said.