Denied ticket in Delhi, Udit Raj hits out at BJP

New Delhi, April 23 (IANS) Current BJP MP from North West Delhi Udit Raj on Tuesday accused the party of ignoring the hard work of ticket aspirants and instead depending on some "inscrutable internal standards".

His reaction came after the party dropped him as a candidate for the May 12 polls in Delhi and named singer Hans Raj Hans for the North West Delhi Lok Sabha seat.

In a statement, he said the BJP has hurt him.

"Entire India thinks that BJP offers tickets based on hard work, honesty and capability. It appears this is not the truth. The decision to offer the ticket or deny it is based on some inscrutable internal standards," he said.

The MP, who merged his Indian Justice Party with the BJP in 2014, said he realised that many smaller regional parties have benefited more by remaining independent.

Udit Raj, a former Indian Revenue Service officer, resigned from his post and formed the Indian Justice Party in 2003.

He contested the 2014 election on BJP ticket and won.

The MP said that a number of things came to his mind about "why I have been denied a BJP ticket".

In a statement, he questioned if it was his fault that he is a senior Dalit leader. "Doesn't the BJP want a leader who has been chosen by Dalits themselves?"

"In the presence of PM Modi I had raised a question in Parliament: is Supreme Court against Dalits and poor. Was it my fault to speak on their behalf?" he asked.

He also asked if taking out a rally against Supreme Court for sealing was an error.

"Are these the reasons for ticker denial? I deeply regret that BJP is hurting me," he said.

He also said that he topped on all the surveys on the performance of the MPs.

"All BJP workers know that the party engaged four agencies for a performance survey of MPs. I topped in all surveys."

"When these endorse my performance and capability, then why was ticket denied to me? What is the criteria?" he asked.

He said he felt "deeply hurt" that he was not even given a chance to defend himself.

"The entire experience of the ticket denial was not graceful. I was not taken into confidence and that left me feel like an orphan today," he said.