NAGPUR, Jan 17: Jilted by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and egged on by his band of supporters, Nagpur MP Banwarilal Purohit yesterday announced his decision to contest the Lok Sabha elections, putting his 20-year-old political career at stake.Speaking at a gathering which he described as his Mitra Parivar, he sought a week's time from his supporters to decide which party, group or forum to identify with while fighting to retain his seat.
Purohit reminded his supporters that ``this is a very tough election to contest. It takes effort. It also takes a lot of money. One has to go from house to house collecting contributions.'' A long career in politics, he said, had given him instinct and insight into ``how the game is played.''
Nobody would be able to take him for a ride, he said, as if referring to Congressmen who would want him to contest as their nominee. Significantly, Purohit, who quit the BJP after being denied a party nomination, appeared at pains yesterday to clear the impression that he wasanti-BJP or anti-RSS.
``My fight is against three people, Pramod Mahajan, Gopinath Munde and Nitin Gadkari, who symbolise corruption in BJP. I have full respect for leaders like Atal Behari Vajpayee and Sudarshanji. I have never criticised the RSS or the BJP,'' he said.
In his speech, Purohit dwelt at length on how he had always fought against corruption. ``Be it the Sharad Pawar government when I was in the Congress or the Manohar Joshi administration while I was in the BJP, I have never bowed before party considerations. More important than the loyalty to the party is the loyalty to my voters,'' he asserted.
Purohit also relentlessly attacked his arch foe Nitin Gadkari. Gadkari, he said, was angry with him because he had unearthed irregularities in the construction of cement roads by Nagpur PWD.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
