Image credit : Illustrative Image

BJP national secretary H Raja today refusedto comment on possible party candidate for the RK Nagar by-poll on December 21.

The BJP being a national party, the decision, whether to contest or not,would be taken by the high command and in his personal capacity he did not want to make any comment, Raja told reporters here today.

He also refused to comment on the issue of Hadiya, a converted

Kerala Muslim woman, who was alleged to have involved in love-jihad case and freed from the custody of her parents by the Supreme Court. There were complaints that officials were seeking money when it came to implementation of Central schemes like housing and construction of toilets, Raja said, adding that up to Rs 30000 was being demanded. Ministers concerned should take strong action, he added.

Though the Centre allocated Rs 1,560 crore for 100 Smart Cities,including 13 in Tamil Nadu, it was a pity that a CEO for the Coimbatore project was yet to be appointed, he said.

The Narendra Modi Government was generous enough in sanctioning crores worth of projects to Tamil Nadu and the State Government should expedite work on these projects. He blamed the State Government for neglecting the HR and CE department andtemples, and said that while officials were drawing heavy salary, priests in the over 38,000 temples in the State were not being paid properly.

He was also in favour of the Government allowing import of sand from Malaysia and said the Centre had made it clear that it would not implement any scheme like neutrino or hydrocarbon which would affect the people. It was for scientists to look into the matter, Raja said.