The decision proved that the BJP has "conceded defeat", Akhilesh Yadav said.
Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday took a swipe at the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) over its decision to drop many current MPs for next month's national election. The decision proved that the BJP has "conceded defeat", said the Samajwadi Party leader. The policy should also apply to the "team captain", remarked Akhilesh Yadav, appearing to refer to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"The ruling party has not given tickets to majority of its MPs. This proves that they have conceded defeat. This formula should also apply to team captain too," he tweeted with #VikasPoochhRahaHai.
On Tuesday, the BJP said it would drop all 10 incumbent MPs in Chhattisgarh and replace them with new faces in the Lok Sabha polls. BJP general secretary Anil Jain said the decision was taken to add "new zeal" to the party.
Many prominent faces like Union minister Vishnu Deo Sai and seven times Lok Sabha member and former Union minister Ramesh Bais have been left out of the electoral contest.
The BJP is also considering not fielding any family member of the MPs, news agency PTI said quoting sources.
The announcement is seen as BJP's bid to regain lost territory after the Congress handed it a massive defeat in the assembly elections in Chhattisgarh in December.
The Congress won 68 of Chhattisgarh's 91 seats, reducing the tally of the BJP, which was in power in the state for 15 years, to a mere 15. The difference in the vote share of the two parties was a huge 10 per cent.
If the party indeed adopts this rule, the prospects of former chief minister Raman Singh, whose son Abhishek Singh is a Member of Parliament, will also dim.
On Saturday, BJP parliamentarian Shyama Charan Gupta resigned and joined the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) over reports that he would not be chosen by the party to contest the election. Another BJP MP, Ram Prasad Sarmah from Assam's Tezpur, also announced his resignation citing "ill-treatment to old guards".
The BJP also faced a setback in the Northeast where assembly polls with be held alongside Lok Sabha elections. At least 25 leaders, including Arunachal Pradesh Home Minister Kumar Waii and Tourism Minister Jarkar Gamlin, resigned after being denied ticket for the assembly polls.
With inputs from agencies