Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday declined to say who was behind the controversy surrounding the BJP’s refusal to give his son, Pankaj Singh, a ticket for the U.P. Assembly by-poll following “rumours” that the latter had been ticked off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an alleged “misconduct.”
Refusing to answer queries of journalists, Mr. Singh, who was in his Lok Sabha constituency to launch the Prime Minister’s ‘Jan Dhan’ programme, told journalists: “You are investigative journalists…You should find out who is the rumour monger.”
Party sources said Mr. Singh was reportedly unhappy with the “rumours” being spread by a “senior Cabinet colleague” about his son being pulled up by the Prime Minister for some alleged misconduct.
Though the Prime Minister’s Office and BJP President Amit Shah immediately came out with statements on Wednesday defending Mr. Singh, party sources say, tension still simmered at the party’s top level.
“The reports [about Mr. Singh and his son] are plain lies, motivated and constitute a malicious attempt at character assassination and tarnishing the image of the Government…Those indulging in such rumour-mongering are damaging the interest of the nation. These reports are strongly denied,” the PMO had said in a statement.
