UP Polls 2017: BJP should not have ignored Muslims, says Rajnath

New Delhi: In what can be called an attempt to appease the Muslim electorate amid Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said Bharatiya Janata Party should have fielded Muslim candidates.

"We have given tickets to Muslims in other states and I think we should have done the same in UP elections, also. This was BJP Parliamentary Board's decision, so I did not intervene," said Rajnath to a leading news channel.

Justifying the state committee’s decision, the minister said parliamentary board might not have found any Muslim candidate capable enough to contest the election.

The BJP heavyweight added, ‘deserving candidates have got the tickets.”

It may be mentioned here that UP is going through the fourth of the seventh phases election.