BJP’S lone Muslim face to take on Pilot

JAIPUR: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday nominated cabinet minister Yunus Khan to contest from Tonk against Congress state chief Sachin Pilot.

Khan’s name figured in the fifth and final list of eight candidates that was released by the BJP on the last day for filing of nominations.

The Deedwana MLA is the only Muslim face in the list of 200 candidates fielded by the BJP for the December 7 polls.

BJP election management committee convener Gajendra Singh Shekhawat called Khan’s candidature from Tonk a master stroke. “We expected Pilot to change his seat…that’s why we had been holding back Khan’s name for so long,” Shekhawat told reporters.

Congress

spokesperson Pratap Singh Khachariyawas said fielding Khan won’t make any difference and that his deposit will be forfeited because people have decided to oust the ruling BJP.

Khan’s candidature from the Muslim-dominated seat is seen as a victory for chief minister Vasundhara Raje who had been advocating the name of the PWD minister, considered a close aide to the CM.

Pilot said the BJP had changed its strategy to not give representation to Muslims at the last moment to play the communal card. “BJP deviated from its stand and fielded Yunus Khan at the eleventh hour only to divide Tonk on communal lines,” he said. “People are mature and will not fall into BJP’S trap.”

He offered prayers at Moti Dungari temple in Jaipur before leaving for Tonk where he held a 5-km-long roadshow to the retuning officer’s office Monday.

“People want to get rid of the BJP government for its misrule. On December 7, when the opportunity will come, the people will vent out their frustration against the Vasundhara Raje government,” Pilot told the media. Khan said the BJP workers and people of Tonk would fight on his behalf.

PILOT CALLS YUNUS KHAN NOMINATION AN ATTEMPT TO DIVIDE THE PEOPLE OF TONK ON COMMUNAL LINES, BJP REJECTS CHARGE