Bhopal: Former Union minister Faggan Singh Kulaste, considered the tribal face of BJP in Madhya Pradesh, has created a flutter in the party circles here when he claimed that he refused the offer to become a junior member in the new ministry at the Centre.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of his thanks giving programme in Niwas under Mandla Lok Sabha constituency in Madhya Pradesh, held on Saturday, Mr Kulaste, who did not find a place in the new ministry led by Narendra Modi at the Centre, said that he was not keen to hold the position of minister of state (MoS) at the Centre and hence, flatly refused such an offer given by a senior BJP leader.
A video in which Mr Kulaste was heard making the claim surfaced on social media on Monday creating flutter in the party circles here.
In the video clip, Mr Kulaste who held the positions as MoS for health and family welfare during the first term of Mr Modi as Prime Minister and as MoS for rural development in the previous NDA government, was heard saying that he would like to join the Union ministry either as a cabinet minister or minister of state with independent charge.
Mr Kulaste was heard saying in the video that he has already served as MoS twice in the previous two governments at the Centre.
The 65-year-old tribal leader had also served as MoS for tribal and parliament affairs minister during the regime of Atal Bihari Vajpayee between 1999 and 2004.
Replying to a question if he would become the next chief of the Madhya Pradesh unit of BJP, Mr Kulaste was heard saying in the video clip that ‘The party takes a call on the matter’.
Mr Kulaste had lost the 2023 Assembly polls from Niwas in Madhya Pradesh. He however won the 2024 Lok Sabha polls from the Mandla seat.
BJP has however chosen to downplay the development, saying that the former Union minister might have made such a statement in his constituency as a face saving measure after not finding a place in the Union ministry.
“He is a veteran tribal leader of the party. He might have made such a claim as a face saving measure before his electorates”, a senior BJP leader said here on Monday, unwilling to be quoted.
