Karnataka rural development minister KS Eshwarappa on Saturday said that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will not give ticket to any Muslim candidate for the bypoll to Belagavi Lok Sabha seat.
Eshwarappa said that the party might give a ticket to a candidate of any community of the Hindus but not to Muslims. “We might give the party ticket to any community of Hindus. Whoever we might give it to – maybe Lingayats, Kurubas, Vokkaligas, or Brahmins but definitely, it will not be given to Muslims,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
A candidate who can win by gaining the trust of the people will be selected, the senior BJP leader told reporters. “Belagavi is one of the centres of Hindutva, there is no question of us giving tickets to Muslims here,” he added.
The Belagavi Lok Sabha seat fell vacant recently following the death of Union minister of state for railways Suresh Angadi due to Covid-19. The bypoll for the seat is yet to be announced by the Election Commission.
Earlier in April last year, Eshwarappa had in Koppal said that BJP will not give tickets to Muslims to contest the elections as they do not believe in the party. However, he had later clarified that he was not hater of any community including Muslims and his statement was in response to a question about a specific leader from the community getting a ticket from the BJP.
