The sacked BSF jawan and Mahagatbandhan (SP-BSP) candidate, Tej Bahadur Yadav who had wished to take on PM Modi from Varanasi during the Lok Sabha polls, has now joined Dushyant Chautala-led Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) and is hoping to contest the upcoming Haryana Assembly polls against Haryana’s CM Manohar Lal Khattar.
Delhi: Tej Bahadur Yadav (BSF constable who was dismissed from service after he had released a video in 2017 on quality of food served to soldiers) joined Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) in presence of JJP leader Dushyant Chautala today. pic.twitter.com/29xMDjZUaB
— ANI (@ANI) September 29, 2019
“I am thankful to JJP and Dushyant Chautala that they nominated me to fight against the chief minister from Karnal,” Yadav was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. He also said that unemployment was a major issue in Haryana. “You know the condition of Haryana and how many people are unemployed in the state,” he said.
During the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the sacked BSF jawan had filed his nomination papers against Prime Minister Narendra Modi as an SP candidate from Varanasi. His nomination was cancelled by the Election Commission. His nomination was then found ineligible under section 9 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. According to this clause, if a candidate was a former government employee and was dismissed from the job due to corruption or disloyalty, such employees will be disqualified from contesting elections. As Tej Bahadur was dismissed in 2017, his candidature was found to be invalid by the EC.
Tej Bahadur had grabbed national headlines in 2017 after he had posted few videos on social media alleging poor quality food served at his Jammu and Kashmir camp. He had alleged that senior officers were selling the ration provided to the camp in the market, and the soldiers were being served poor quality.
The Home Ministry and PMO had ordered a detailed probe into the matter, and it was found that Tej Bahadur was making false allegations. Posting videos on social media instead of raising grievances on proper channel was also found to be a violation of rules. Moreover, he had a history of bad behaviour in the force, and he was jailed four times in the past for misbehaving with seniors and abusing and threatening them. After the conclusion of the enquiry, he was dismissed from service in April 2017.
On May 2019, a shocking video had surfaced in which Tej Bahadur was seen in an inebriated state claiming to assassinate PM Modi for a sum of Rs 50 crores. In another video of the same day that has gone viral, Tej Bahadur Yadav can be seen drinking and smoking with other men. One of the persons in the video introduces the other person in the video as Tej Bahadur Yadav, “the former BSF commando in Indian army”. Yadav has himself admitted that he is present in the video and it is 2 years old.
Meanwhile, Haryana will go to poll on October 21 and the results will be declared on October 24 in a single phase. Haryana, along with Maharashtra are the first states to go to polls after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections which marked a historic win for the BJP. The term of the assembly for Haryana ends on November 2.
BJP had swept Haryana from Congress’ command after its victory in the 2014 Haryana Legislative Assembly election. The 2014 Haryana assembly polls saw BJP winning the elections with 47 seats in the 90-member House here too, emerging as the single largest party.
In the Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year, Haryana had witnessed a saffron surge as BJP had made a clean sweep by winning all 10 seats. The reason for Tej Bahadur Yadav’s disqualification in the Lok Sabha election still remains, so it will be interesting the see whether he is able to contest the elections this time.
