Jaswant says Rajnath, Raje betrayed him

Barmer, March 24 (IANS) BJP veteran Jaswant Singh Monday accused BJP president Rajnath Singh and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje of "betraying" him by not fielding him in the Lok Sabha election.

Saying it was he who recommended Vasundhara Raje for the chief minister's post and Rajnath Singh as the BJP president, he said here after filing his nomination as an independent: "They have betrayed me."

The former external affairs minister, a long-time associate of BJP stars Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani, said that returning to the Bharatiya Janata Party after his expulsion earlier was a mistake.

"The way I was expelled after the BJP Shimla convention, even a 'chaprasi' (peon) isn't expelled like that," Jaswant Singh told a rally of his supporters.

"Perhaps it was an emotional weakness that I joined the BJP again."

Jaswant Singh, who was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2009 from Darjeeling in West Bengal, wanted to contest from the Lok Sabha election from Barmer.

But the ticket was given to former Congress leader Sonaram Choudhary, who recently joined the BJP.

Jaswant Singh told IANS Sunday that the BJP will face "repercussions" for treating him shabbily.