New Delhi: A cash-for-ticket scandal has seemingly hit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in poll-bound Rajasthan.
One Anand Hooda, who claims to be a BJP worker, has accused senior party functionaries of reneging on their promise to give him a ticket from the Fatehpur seat after allegedly taking Rs 50 lakh as part of a deal.
An audio clip of a purported conversation between Hooda and Raj Choudhary, who is described as a BJP vistarak, has gone viral in which both are heard calling each other chor or thief.
Hooda alleges in the clip that Choudhary made him book an SUV and took cash in the name of BJP general secretary (organisation), Chandrashekhar, and Somkant Sharma, state convenor of the special sampark cell of the Rajasthan BJP.
He is heard repeating the same charge in a video that has surfaced on social media. ThePrint can’t verify the authenticity of the audio and video clips.
Rajasthan BJP spokesman Laxmikant Bhardwaj has rubbished the charges, labelling it a conspiracy by the Congress.
Bharadwaj said Chaudhary was not a BJP member and “not even remotely connected with the BJP”. “He (Chaudhary) cannot help in getting a ticket in any way. The Congress is losing the elections and hence is resorting to such tactics. This is a matter between two individuals and the BJP has got nothing to do with it,” Bhardwaj added.
The spokesman also took to X (formerly Twitter) to say that Hooda was not in touch with any of the BJP leaders and hence the question of fielding him did not arise.
ThePrint reached out to BJP leader Somkant Sharma, who said he did not know Anand Hooda or Raj Chaudhary. “There was never any talk or meeting with them. It is a well-planned conspiracy against me by the Congress and, if the need arises, I will file a defamation case. Tickets are not sold in the BJP. We have a clear-cut system and ticket distribution is carried out in a systematic manner,” he said
Meanwhile, Raj Choudhary told the publication Money Bhaskar that he had lodged a case against Hooda in the Shipra Path police station in Jaipur, alleging the latter borrowed Rs 4.5 lakh from him and was refusing to pay back.
ThePrint has reached out to Chandrashekhar for a comment. The copy will be updated if and when he replies.
Incidentally, all is not well for the BJP in Fatehpur as a section of workers are angry with the party’s decision to foist an “outsider” on the constituency. The BJP has fielded Shravan Choudhury from Fatehpur.
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