New Delhi: Seven-time Lok Sabha MP from Karnataka’s Vijayapura, Ramesh Jigajinagi, has said he is “deeply hurt” by the decision of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s national leadership not to induct him into the Union cabinet.
Speaking to the media on Tuesday, July 8, from his constituency, he pointedly asked his party leadership whether Dalits had not supported the BJP.
“In the whole of South India, I am the only Dalit MP to have been elected to parliament seven times. Look at my luck – all the upper castes became cabinet ministers. Didn’t Dalits support the BJP? I am deeply hurt,” he said, according to the Times of India.
He said he was not seeking ministership driven by personal ambition. “I don’t seek a cabinet post for myself. When I returned to my constituency, many people criticised me. Many had warned me earlier that the BJP is anti-Dalit,” he said. “There is pressure from the people for me to become a minister at the centre. Is it fair or unfair?”
The veteran BJP leader has so far won seven consecutive elections: three times from the Chikkodi (SC reserved) constituency and four times from the Bijapur (SC reserved) seat. In his four-decade political career, he has never faced a defeat. He served as the minister of state for drinking water and sanitation from 2016 to 2019 in Modi’s first government.
