BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla has said that financial burden mostly made him tender his resignation from the party since he “doesn’t come from a legacy”.
Poonawalla reflected on his journey from once being a TV anchor to later switching to politics in 2021, and said that he was looking for new avenues as the current role didn’t pay much. The BJP recently announced 13 vice-presidents, with some popular leaders like Smriti Irani and Ram Madhav making a comeback. He first offered to resign on July 30, but the party asked him to reconsider.
Because i’m from the BJP,” Poonawalla said told NDTV, my landlord is not going to give me free rent. “I need to pay my rent. Poonawalla was one of the most prominent and popular spokespersons of the BJP.
He also said the BJP or any other political party doesn’t pay its spokespersons. “ Me wanting to resign or moving to a private space has been conversation since 2024,” Poonawalla said, adding that his “24X7, 365 days a year” job was no longer sustaining him. Further explaining reasons for his resignation, Poonawalla used the phrase “neither leta nor beta”, emphasising that he neither got paid much nor was he related to any politician. “I don’t come from legacy,” he said. Asked if he was “disgruntled” over not being included in the BJP’s new organisational team , Poonawalla laughed off and said that as spokesperson, he doesn’t have say in such important decisions. He also said that he was not hoping to be on the team. He said he decided to stick to his decision after “long and hard contemplation”. “Due to pressing emergency financial and personal circumstances, I will move into the private sector, but wherever possible and in whatever format possible, I will continue to support the vision and work of Prime Minister Modi and the BJP,” he said. “I am only leaving the Vyavastha (organisation) not the Vyakti (people) or Vichar (ideology),” Poonawalla said.
He submitted his resignation from all party posts and primary membership to party president Nitin Nabin on Monday.
