Pranav Pandya refuses to accept RS nomination
Tribune News Service
Haridwar, May 6
Dr Pranav Pandya, spiritual ideologue of Gayatri Teerth Shantikunj and Dev Sanskriti University, Haridwar, today refused to accept the Rajya Sabha nomination accorded to him yesterday.
In a letter to President Pranab Mukherjee, Dr Pandya said his inner voice did not allow him to accept the Upper House nomination. After talking to his family, friends, Shantikunj activists and taking into account the feelings of crores of Shantikunj followers, he had arrived at the conclusion of not accepting the membership.
“Lakhs of Akhil Vishwa Gayatri Parivar and Dev Sanskriti University members and students were not in favour of me joining politics. I too felt that service to the nation, society and humanity can be done outside Parliament too. As I have not taken oath yet, I thought it better to apprise the President and the Union Government of my decision at the earliest so that another desirable candidate could make it to the Rajya Sabha,” he said.
City legislator Madan Kaushik, who had congratulated Dr Pranav Pandya on his nomination yesterday, expressed surprise at the decision. He said owing to the social work being done by Dr Pandya and his knowledge, Rajya Sabha would have benefitted from his membership.
As it was a personal decision of Dr Pandya, all should respect it. This had shown another facet of Dr Pandya and pointed to his concern of working diligently for the society and humanity, Kaushik added.
Former Congress legislator Ambrish Kumar termed the decision as right as he alleged that the BJP was trying to take undue political advantage from Dr Pranav Pandya through this move.
The Akhil Vishwa Gayatri Parivar has crores of followers and activists and thousands of students studied at Dev Sanskriti University and Gayatri Vidyapeeth. The BJP was eyeing this voter base and wanted to put Pandya as a counter figure for Yoga guru Ramdev, who was currently not on good terms with the BJP, Ambrish added.
Uday Ram Semwal, media secretary of Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD), said with the denial, Dr Pranav Pandya’s stature had only grown as he had shown that he was only concerned for humanity and social work.
