Date:16/04/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/04/16/stories/2008041650170100.htm

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Sangliana upset as BJP fails to give ticket to minorities

B. S. Satish Kumar

‘I was not consulted even for segments under my parliamentary constituency’

H.T.Sangliana

Bangalore: The dissatisfaction in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the distribution of the party ticket to contest the ensuing polls took a new turn on Tuesday with Bangalore North MP H.T. Sangliana taking serious exception to not providing representation to any of the minorities in the list of candidates.

Mr. Sangliana told The Hindu over telephone from Delhi that he was “very much upset” that the party had not accommodated even a single member from the minority communities in the two lists of 171 candidates released so far. “This would amount to ignoring the minorities,” he said. The retired police officer said he had long ago requested the BJP leaders to field at least two Muslims and a Christian to contest the polls in any of the constituencies in the State. “But the party had ignored my request completely”, he said.

Mr. Sangliana cautioned the BJP leaders that there would be a mass exodus of minorities from the party if it failed to provide representation to them at least in the remaining constituencies for which the nominees were yet to be announced.

“I am the secular face of the BJP. The BJP used me to convince the minorities to join the party. I campaigned for the party in some of the north-eastern States also. A large number of minorities in the State have followed me to the party after I started campaigning for it. But now they will lose faith in the party if there is no representation to them at all,” he said.

He said he was upset that the party leaders had not bothered to consult him while finalising the names of candidates even for the Assembly segments coming under his parliamentary constituency.

“Even when I made efforts to get in touch with them, they were not available to me,” he alleged.

Mr. Sangliana said he was compelled to go public with respect to the ticket issue as the party leadership had not taken his suggestion seriously.

Meanwhile, party national general secretary H.N. Ananth Kumar said early that the party would try to provide representation to minorities.