BJP president Amit Shah said here on Monday that he would continue as party president, brushing aside speculation that he would join the Narendra Modi Cabinet as he filed nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha election.
There is “no question” of resigning from the party’s top post, Mr. Shah told presspersons at the BJP headquarters here on the concluding day of his three-day organisational tour of the Uttar Pradesh capital.
‘Satisfied with my work’
“I am satisfied and pleased with my work, and am discharging my responsibilities with full dedication. You please don’t push me out,” Mr. Shah said.
He also said that U.P. Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya would continue with his job in the State amid speculation that the BJP wanted to avoid a byelection in Phulpur, Mr. Maurya’s Lok Sabha seat.
The BJP chief dismissed allegations that his party was orchestrating rifts in Opposition parties by buying out or luring their legislators.
“All those who joined the BJP during elections had to get the people’s mandate before entering the House. We did not try to break any party through misuse of government. This is not the Indira Gandhi pattern,” Mr. Shah said.
Specifically responding to questions of the political shift in Bihar, where the Janata Dal(U) formed a government in alliance with the BJP after abandoning the RJD, Mr. Shah said Nitish Kumar decided to part ways with Lalu Prasad’s party over the issue of corruption and that the BJP “did not break any party”. “You can’t force him to continue with the RJD at gunpoint,” Mr. Shah said.
Mr. Shah also asked why the Congress had “locked up” its Gujarat MLAs in a resort in Karnataka even as the party had a government in the State.
A couple of hours after the BJP president addressed the press conference, three Opposition party MLCs who had resigned from their posts on Saturday joined the BJP.
Former Samajwadi Party MLCs Bukkal Nawab and Yashwant Singh, and former BSP MLC Thakur Jaiveer Singh were inducted by Mr. Maurya, even as Mr. Shah was still in the building.