Senior Congress leader and former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi today said that new voters would discard BJP for raising the Ram Janmabhoomi temple issue as a means of gaining power at the Centre.
"It appears that BJP is raising the Ram temple (issue) to revive hardcore Hindutva (sentiments) and polarise votes before the general elections," Jogi told reporters at Press Club here.
However, "new voters will not fall into the trap and reject it outright. An issue which influenced voters once cannot do wonders every time," he said.
Jogi said that although BJP had led governments in Uttar Pradesh and at the Centre, the party had not managed to lay a single brick in Ayodhya to construct the Ram temple. That exposed the party's achievements on the issue, he added.
He advised BJP's campaign committee chairman and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to look for other issues as issues like Ram temple and Common Civil Code would not influence voters any more.
On the alleged sodomy row involving former Madhya Pradesh finance minister Raghavji, Jogi said that the case had brought shame to the entire political community.
He claimed that he had no differences with Chhattisgarh state Congress president Charandas Mahant and added that in the upcoming Assembly elections there, the people would vote BJP out of power.
