Bhopal: Bharatiya Janata Party, a party that vehemently opposes dynastic politics in India, found itself in a tight spot on Monday when its national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said that being a politician's son should not be considered a demerit. The statement comes at a time when Vijayvargiya's son Akash is lobbying for a ticket in Madhya Pradesh.

When asked whether children of various senior politicians in MP, including his son Akash, should be considered for an election ticket by the party, Vijayvargiya said that it was up to the party to select a deserving candidate. "The party should see the duration for which an aspirant has been working for it. The work should matter and not the political lineage as being a politician's son is not anyone's fault," he said.

If someone is a deserving candidate, then the party would consider his candidature, said the Mhow MLA.

Asked about whether he would contest assembly or the Lok Sabha polls, Vijayvargiya said he would follow whatever the party instructs him to.

The response from Vijayvargiya has come at a time when there is strong political buzz that his son Akash, who has been taking care of his poll ventures for long, could be fielded from Mhow and Vijayvargiya could opt for any seat in Indore or anywhere else in Malwa region where he enjoys sizable sway. Besides, Akash, several other senior leader’s sons are in the fray for election tickets in MP.

Meanwhile the senior leader discussing about Samriddha MP campaign, which the BJP has launched on Sunday, claimed the party received over 4000 phone calls besides Whatsapp messages of suggestions from the public on the first day of campaign carried out by 50 chariots in 50 districts.

Asked whether these 4,000 calls could also be considered an example that the state was plagued by problems, the BJP general secretary asked the media not to think by a negative perspective claiming it were all suggestions pertaining to Samriddha MP. To a pointed query as to why the BJP shifted focus from a Golden MP to Samriddha MP, a seemingly perturbed Vijayvargiya retorted saying it was matter of only perspective. When the MP would be Samriddha, it would be Swarnim (golden) also, he added.

Questioned as to when the BJP would start going to polls underlining its own achievements rather than talking about Congress government failures, Vijayvargiya said the benchmark would be the same even if BJP fights consecutive tenth election in MP. “We would still be comparing our government with Congress government of 1993 to 2003.”

He briefed the media about a meeting chaired by organizational general secretary Ram Lal in which the party discussed the election work blueprint as directed by party chief Amit Shah during his visit earlier. “Assessment is being made about areas where PM Narendra Modi, party president Amit Shah and union ministers’ visits are required during campaigning,” he said. Senior leader Prabhat Jha has been assigned the task of preparing list of places where PM’s visits were required.

Replying to a query whether party patriarch LK Advani would also be invited for public meetings, Vijayvargiya said, “Yes, he would come, if the need be.”