We didn’t give tickets based on financial status: BJP

NEW DELHI: The party did not give tickets for the MCD polls based on financial status, the BJP on Tuesday said, after one of its “poor” candidates from a slum turned out to be an owner of property worth lakhs.

BJP’S Delhi in-charge Shyam Jaju said the party chose Sunita Kaushik as its Inderpuri candidate for the upcoming municipal polls due to her active role in highlighting the issues plaguing the JJ clusters and unauthorised colonies.

The party also extended its support to five candidates, who had filed nominations as independents, in wards where the State Election Commission has cancelled the nomination of its own candidates.

“Financial status was not the benchmark. In fact, her financial condition should not be a matter of debate. She is active on issues pertaining to the slum clusters,” he said.

The party had initially attempted to reach out to the people residing at the JJ clusters by projecting Kaushik as someone who was “one of them” and understands their “pain”.

Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari was instrumental in naming her as a candidate during the party’s slum outreach campaign. Tiwari had named Sunita Kaushik as a candidate after meeting her during one of his night stays at a slum, as part of the BJP’S efforts to extend its base in strongholds of the Aam Aadmi Party. Later, her election affidavit revealed that she had two houses and jewellery worth around Rs 90 lakh.

Meanwhile, a group of AAP and Congress activists, numbering around 40, joined the BJP at the party’s Delhi unit headquarters in the presence of East Delhi MP Maheish Girri. “Not a day goes without people from the Congress or the AAP joining the BJP. Their joining will further boost the party’s prospects and it also establishes the widespread resentment against Arvind Kejriwal and the AAP,” Girri said.