Karnataka polls: BJP never does nepotism, allegation of my aunt false, says youngest candidate Siddharth

Vijayanagara (Karnataka) [India], May 3 : Siddharth Singh, who, at 25, is the youngest candidate in the Karnataka Assembly polls, denied her aunt R Sanjukta's claim that the ruling BJP indulged in "family politics" by giving him a ticket to contest the state elections.

Denying the charge levelled by her aunt, who quit the BJP and joined the Congress after being denied an Assembly poll ticket, Siddharth told , "I don't agree with what she said."

R Samyuktha, who also happens to be the sister of state Forest minister Anand Singh, claimed that the BJP indulged in dynastic politics by denying her the ticket and giving it to her nephew instead.

"The party has put her in respectable positions at the state and national levels and she has been serving the party at these levels. It's sad and unfortunate that R Sanjukta-ji decided to leave the BJP and join the Congress," Siddharth, the BJP's candidate from the Vijayanagara Assembly constituency, said.

"On the allegation of Pariwarvaad (dynastic politics) levelled by my aunt, I can say our leader and Union Home minister Amit Shah-ji had clarified what it means. Only if a chief minister or a BJP president's son takes over from his father in the same post, can it be called Parivarvad. My father, Anand Singh, gave up politics knowing that he did his best for the people and the betterment of the constituency when he represented it," Siddharth said.

"He gave his all in the interest of taking this constituency forward during his tenure (as MLA). However, he wasn't greedy for power and knew when to move on. He knows that nothing is permanent and it is when we are assigned a responsibility to serve the people that we should do our best," Siddharth added.

Claiming that he was a hundred per cent confident about people voting him to office from the Vijayanagara Assembly constituency, Siddharth said, "I am 100 per cent confident that the people will give me a chance to serve them. And I can also say that I will discharge my functions faithfully and sincerely if given an opportunity to do so."

Talking up his prospects in his foray into electoral politics, Siddharth said, "PM Modi said our constituency Vijayanagara is the youngest among all the 224 Assembly constituencies of the state. I am grateful that my party considered me to be worthy of representing this constituency. And, as the youngest candidate in the elections, I am hopeful of a chance to fulfil the promises I made to the people."

Miffed over being ignored for a ticket to contest the Assembly polls, R Sanjukta, claimed earlier, "It is now clear that the BJP will never encourage sincere party workers to serve the people. The latest illustration of this is its choice of candidate for the Vijayanagara Assembly seat. Apart from being the son of Anand Singh, Siddharth Singh has little that merits an Assembly poll ticket. He is just 25 years old and he doesn't have any experience of electoral politics. And yet the BJP picked him over me for a ticket."