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Newly appointed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Mumbai vice president Ravi Raja on Thursday expressed his disappointment in the Congress party he recently left, saying that the party does not give tickets to candidates based on merit.
Raja said that he has worked diligently from the Sion Koliwada constituency for the last 25 years, but someone else who is relatively new was offered the ticket instead. "I have fought from the Sion Koliwada constituency five times before, the ward beside it is Dharavi. Now you see that the person who has been there for 25 years, that person has not gotten a ticket and the person who has been just a member for the past 4 months that person has gotten a ticket, esa pata chalta hai ki bedh bhav hai (it shows that there is favouritism). It is looks like only one family is responsible for giving out tickets. It has happened in Mumbai and Maharashtra," he told ANI. "I believe that they don't give ticket on the basis of merit, so sometimes people rebel," he added. Further saying that he will work to get the Mahayuti candidate electied from the Mumbai constituencies, he added, "I don't have any expectations, and today they saw my experience and Ashish Shelar announced me as the Vice President of the BJP Mumbai unit, and I will campaign for the Mahayuti candidate all over Mumbai's constituencies and work to make them win." He further said that the 'parivarvaad' in Mumbai is still going strong within the Congress. "You can see how someone was favoured before, then someone else was favoured, who was given ticket, it was all in the open. So in a way the parivarvaad within Congress is going strong," he said. Earlier today in a major blow to Congress in Mumbai, Raja resigned from the party. The letter read, "Since 1980 as a Youth Congress Member, I have served the party with utmost sincerity and dedication and today I am made to believe that my 44 years of service for the Congress party is not respected and hence I take this decision of resigning from my party post." The Assembly elections for the 288 Maharashtra Assembly are going to happen in a single phase on November 20, with the counting of votes to happen on November 23. (ANI)
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