PATNA: A day after his formal dismissal from the Nitish Kumar-led state cabinet, the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) president Mukesh Sahani on Tuesday claimed that the BJP had once offered him to make Union minister by sending him (Sahani) to the Rajya Sabha, if he merges his party (VIP) with the saffron party.
Sahani not only dismissed the BJP state president Sanjay Jaiswal’s claim that the VIP chief had earlier agreed to merge his party with the saffron outfit, but also said that the BJP leadership had since 2016 been giving him different kinds of bait to get his outfit merged with the BJP.
“During the 2020 Bihar polls when the BJP offered me 11 assembly seats and one council seat and made me an ally of the NDA, there was no talk about merger of the VIP with the saffron party. The BJP state president Sanjay Jaiswal was not part of the dialogue for the seat-sharing between BJP and the VIP during the 2020 assembly polls. Jaiswal has been making false claims about the so-called merger deal,” Sahani said.
“Everyone knows that when I broke my alliance with the UPA during a press conference at a local hotel, I announced to contest the assembly polls alone. In the meantime, a phone call came from Delhi and I went to the national capital. Within four hours, the BJP leadership decided to make the VIP an ally of the BJP and offered 11 assembly seats and one council seat. Then, there was no talk about merger of the VIP with the BJP,” Sahani, who loves to be called 'Son of Mallah', said in response to a media query.
Sahani further said that the BJP had been giving him different kinds of bait since 2016. “Once they said they will make me a minister in the Union cabinet by sending me to the Rajya Sabha, if I merge my outfit with the BJP. Once they also offered to make me the chief minister of Bihar after the 2025 assembly polls if I merge the VIP with the saffron party. But I declined all such offers and refused to merge my party,” he said.
Sahani further said the main aim of his party was to get an adequate percentage of reservation for Sahani and Mallah communities. “If the BJP provides adequate percentage of reservation to the Sahani, Mallah and other allied castes, I will hand over my party to the BJP and go to Haridwar,” he said.
