BJP believes Muslims not voting en bloc

The opposition Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) is drawing a huge solace from the repeated pronouncements of Muslim leaders across the country that the community would not vote as one in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

“This means that this election the Muslim community is not doing tactical voting with the only purpose of keeping the BJP out,’’ Prakash Javadekar, senior BJP leader, told media persons. G L V Narsimha Rao, eminent psephologist, who is member of the BJP’s national executive, has cited this as one of the nine factors that would help BJP emerge victorious in the election.

The BJP, which is viewed suspiciously by the Minorities, has fielded only three Muslim among 427 candidates for the lok sabha election. They include senior leadera — Syed Shahnawaz Hussain from Bhagalpur, Bihar, and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi from Rampur, UP — and Mohammad sadiq Khan from Anantnag,Kashmir.

“It’s true that we do not have many Muslim leaders in the party but things are changing now,” said a senior party leader.