Still associated with socialist ideology: Ex-PM Chandra Shekhar's son fielded by BJP in LS polls
Chandra Shekhar's son Neeraj Shekhar, who has been fielded by the BJP from Ballia in Uttar Pradesh in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, on Thursday said he is still associated with the socialist ideology and slammed the Samajwadi Party (SP) for allegedly doing away with the ideas of Ram Manohar Lohia. «The socialist ideology should not be linked with the SP. I am still personally associated with the socialist ideology,» Neeraj Shekhar told PTI over the phone.
The assertion by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate assumes significance as his late father was a proponent of the socialist ideology and a vocal critic of the saffron party.
Chandra Shekhar's entire family is currently in the BJP. His elder son Pankaj Shekhar as well as younger son Neeraj Shekhar are in the saffron party while his grandson Ravi Shankar Singh Pappu is a BJP member in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council.
Neeraj Shekhar, who has been an SP MP from Ballia in the past, said a wrong perception is being created about the socialist ideology.
«The SP claims to be associated with the socialist ideology, but it has actually abandoned it. Dr Ram Manohar Lohia had raised the slogan of breaking caste barriers, whereas the SP today is hoisting the flag of a caste census,» he said.
In its Lok Sabha polls manifesto released by party president Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday, the SP has promised that a caste census will be conducted by 2025 if it comes to power.
Neeraj Shekhar, who lost the 2014 Lok Sabha poll contest from Ballia to the BJP's Bharat
