Defense Minister Rajnath Singh (File)
– Photo: ANI
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Political parties keep accusing each other of nepotism. Regarding familyism, Rajnath Singh said that he does not do familyism. He once refused to give a party ticket to his son Pankaj Singh, as he did not want him to be accused of propagating nepotism. However, Pankaj Singh is currently BJP MLA from Noida.
Speaking at the Time Now Summit, Union Minister Rajnath Singh referred to the 2007 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. Rajnath Singh was the BJP president at that time. Rajnath Singh said, ‘At that time, former Chief Minister Kalyan Singh and current Governor of Rajasthan Kalraj Mishra came to me and suggested that Pankaj Singh could contest elections from an assembly constituency in Varanasi. I was the party president at that time and I refused.
Rajnath Singh said, ‘Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advocate sitting near me requested me, but I refused both the leaders and said that I will not give the ticket to my son with my own hands.’ Singh said, his son was also angry that he did not get my blessings. He said that Pankaj came home and touched my feet, I did not give him my blessings. He was very sad and even went and complained.
Explaining more about the concept of ‘familism’, Rajnath Singh said, ‘Suppose I am the president of a party and I wish that after me my son should hold this post and later his son, this is what we call familism. . PM Modi also clarified the dynastic politics in the House, in which he said that ‘If 8-9 people of a family are active in politics, then we cannot call it dynasticism, but when a family runs a party and a family If priority is given, then that is ‘familism’. This means that the party does nothing.