NEW DELHI: In an attack from within the party ahead of the Delhi elections, sitting BJP MLA Mohan Singh Bisht on Sunday openly criticized his party’s decision to field Kapil Mishra from the Karawal Nagar assembly seat.
“Clearly the party thinks it’s a BJP seat and they think “BJP mei kisi aira gaira natthu khaira- kiso ko bhi lada denge who jeet jaayega (they will field anyone from BJP and he will win)”. This is a big mistake,” Bisht remarked in a statement to ANI.
He further called out the BJP saying, “In the coming days, the party will know the importance of ground workers’ existence in these elections.” “Not just this election, be it Burari, Karawal Nagar, Ghonda, Seelampur, Gokalpuri and Nand Nagri seats; what’ll happen on all these seats, only time will tell” he added, talking about the consequences of the party’s decisions.
Further declaring his loyalty to Karawal Nagar, Bisht asserted, “I will not contest from any other seat. I will file my nomination from the Karawal Nagar seat, before January 17.” He also said that he’ll not ask the party to reconsider the decision and will not take any incentive to fight from any other seat.
Despite his discontentment with BJP, the MLA still ruled out any possibility of joining Congress.
This comes as BJP on Saturday nominated ex-AAP member Kapil Mishra as their candidate for Karawal Nagar constituency instead of five-time and incumbent MLA Bisht. Mohan Singh Bisht has been elected as MLA in 1998, 2003, 2008, 2013, and 2020.
The party has announced nominees for 58 constituencies from the total 70 Assembly seats with their candidate list released on January 4.
The elections for Delhi assembly are scheduled for February 5 in one phase, with vote counting set for February 8. Candidates must submit their nomination papers by January 17. The nomination verification process will be conducted on January 18, and candidates can withdraw their nominations until January 20.