Jaunpur: A day after the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) replaced its candidate for Jaunpur Lok Sabha seat, gangster-politician Dhananjay Singh said such 'betrayal' is nothing new for him but it has hurt his wife, Shrikala Reddy, who had already filed her nomination and started campaigning.
Former MP Dhananjay also denied allegations of being under pressure and approaching BSP for replacing candidate. "These BSP leaders are new and should stop levelling such allegations against me. They should know that it is not possible to pressurise me," Dhananjay said.
He claimed that such incidents of betrayal have happened to him thrice and he is not afraid. "There was BSP government in 2002 when I was kept in jail for a year and 10-12 cases were imposed against me. My mother had also passed away at that time," he said.
Accusing BSP of defaming him, Dhananjay said the leaders are trying to save their party by maligning him. "When BSP was in government from 2007 to 2012, I had differences with the government and was sent to jail. I was restrained from coming to Jaunpur in 2011 and Section 144 was imposed. Even then I was not afraid of police and administration and had come to Jaunpur and contested the by-elections in 2020," he said.
He said that BSP announced tickets for Basti, Banaras and Azamgarh two days ago and it has been the party's plans to cancel tickets but one should not make any false allegations against anyone.
Speaking on his next course of action, Dhananjay said he will talk to his supporters before taking any decision. "It is only one who has our support that will win from Jaunpur," he said adding that he has 2.5 to 4 lakh supporters here.
Dhananjay also denied allegations of him reaching out to BSP supremo Mayawati. "I was listening to BSP coordinator Ghanshyam Kharwar. He said that after talking on phone I had told about not contesting the elections. I have not had any conversation with Mayawati on phone since 2013-14. I was in jail when the ticket was given to my wife. If I were contesting elections, I would have filed nomination as an independent as well," he added.
"BSP is in the news because of me. There are no prominent leaders left in BSP. Only one seat, Jaunpur, is in discussion. BSP cancelled tickets in many districts, but only Jaunpur seat is being discussed and that is because of Dhananjay Singh," he added.
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