West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said the Bharatiya Janata Party’s decision to leave out LK Advani out of its candidates list is an insult to the senior party leader, PTI reported.
Last week, BJP President Amit Shah was announced the candidate from Advani’s seat, Gandhinagar in Gujarat. On Tuesday, another party veteran Murli Manohar Joshi was also dropped after the party announced that Uttar Pradesh minister Satyadev Pachauri will be fielded from Joshi’s Kanpur constituency. Joshi had won the seat in 2014 by a huge margin.
“[Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari] Vajpayee ji, Advani ji were the pillars of the BJP,” PTI quoted Banerjee as saying. “Advani ji is a senior man. And now how he has been left out. This is of course an insult to Advani.”
The Trinamool Congress chief said Advani was the party’s mentor. “I’m feeling sad for him [Advani]. This may be his last chance...But when there is no need, they [senior leaders] are forgotten. But old is always gold. This is my personal feeling,” she said.
Banerjee added that she was upset that wife of Union minister Ananth Kumar, who died in November last year, was denied his seat from Bengaluru South. “I worked under Advani and Vajpayee when I was in the NDA. I worked with Anant Kumar when I was a central minister...We have to give the youth, women and [people from] all the castes and communities [chances]. But senior leaders cannot be ignored.”
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