Criminals a part of politics, says Thakre

lucknow: chief minister rajnath singh and bjp chief kalraj mishra may have said ''no'' to criminals, but kushbhau thakre, former bjp national president, minces no words in accepting that criminals are a necessity in a political system. ''it is a political compulsion to include criminals in the party,'' he said here on monday. but, in the same vein, he said the bjp was still better than other political parties.''if criminals were there in our party, we had tried to get rid of them,'' he added. in a freewheeling interview, thakre, who is also in-charge of up affairs, said: ''i cannot guarantee that criminals would not be given ticket for the next assembly elections. we will try to eliminate them. but one thing should be borne in mind that no one lives in isolation. we are getting leaders from this society. and all of them are not sadhus.'' thakre's remarks comes at a time when political leaders of all hues are crying hoarse against criminalisation of politics. the samajwadi party had suspended two of its mps for their criminal antecedents. thakre said in politics, situations arises when one has to make compromises. the bjp faced a similar situation in 1996 when the former governor romesh bhandari refused to invite the bjp to form government though it was the largest party. ''we had no option then but to take help of legislators from other parties. a few of them may have had criminal records. we used them to break the political impasse prevailing at that time,'' he added. ''so far, criminals are not in the bjp. they may be with our allies, '' he said. the former bjp chief was also clear on what action should be taken against indisciplined legislators. ''i do not go by complaints as i know in politics complaints are generally fake,'' he said.