Lucknow: Former BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh has said that the history of Gonda is more beautiful than that of Ayodhya . Addressing an event in Balrampur to mark the death anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on Friday, Singh said: “Ayodhya exists because of Gonda. The history of Gonda is more beautiful than that of Ayodhya.
” Though he did not elaborate further, political experts saw his assertion as a covert nudge to the BJP, which has been making concerted moves to augment its footprints in Ayodhya after losing Faizabad parliamentary constituency, the most prominent Hindutva nerve centre, to the Samajwadi Party in the Lok Sabha elections. Singh also mounted a veiled attack on the saffron party, saying that he was not invited to the consecration ceremony of Ram Lalla earlier this year. “Bhale hi Ayodhya wale hume phenke rahein hain, hum Ayodhya se naata jode rahenge (Let the people of Ayodhya dump us but we will continue to keep our relations with the temple town alive),” he said.
“Hum triyodashi par jalabhishek karte the, wo rukwa diya gaya. Hanumanji ke darshan karne jaate the, wo rukwa diya gaya,” he said, without taking names. Singh, former president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), was denied a ticket to contest from his home turf of Kaiserganj following allegations of sexual harassment by some women wrestlers.
However, the party gave ticket to his younger son Karan Bhushan Singh who – in his electoral debut – went on .