BJP show-causes sitting MP Jayant Sinha for skipping campaigning

Ranchi: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday slapped a show cause notice on former Union Minister Jayant Sinha for not taking part in campaigning after Manish Jaiswal was declared candidate from the Hazaribag Lok Sabha seat and thereby "maligning" the party's image.

Sinha, son of former union finance minister Yashwant Sinha, is the sitting MP of Hazaribagh.

"You are not taking any interest in organisational work and election campaigning ever since the party declared Manish Jaiswal as the candidate from Hazaribag LS seat. You did not even feel proper to exercise your right of franchise. The party's image has been maligned due to your conduct," BJP state general secretary Aditya Sahu said in the notice.

Sinha was conspicuous by his absence during polling in Hazaribag constituency on Monday.

The party has sought an explanation from Jayant Sinha within two days, following instructions from state BJP president and former Jharkhand chief minister Babulal Marandi.

Asked about future course of action, Sahu told PTI that it would depend on Sinha's response.

Sinha did not respond to calls and messages in this regard.

Hours before the announcement that Jaiswal would be the candidate for Hazaribagh, Sinha had requested party leadership to relieve him from electoral politics.

In a post on X on March 2, the MP said he would continue to work with the party on economic and governance issues and wanted to focus his efforts on "combating global climate change in Bharat and around the world".

"I have had the privilege of serving the people of Bharat and Hazaribagh for the past ten years. Moreover, I have been blessed by the many opportunities provided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and the BJP leadership. My sincerest gratitude to all of them. Jai Hind!" he had said in that post.

Hazaribag, a high-profile urban constituency in Jharkhand, was once represented by Yashwant Sinha and later his son, Jayant Sinha.

Sinha won the seat by a margin of 4.79 lakh votes, defeating Congress's Gopal Sahu in 2019.

Notably, Jaiswal had earlier contested from the Mandu assembly seat on a JVM ticket.