BHOPAL: Denied tickets to contest the local polls, many BJP aspirants displayed their anger publicly on Saturday, the last day for filing of nomination papers.
At the state party headquarters, meetings continued till late night hours to select candidates for Narela, Huzur and wards of the other assembly constituencies in Bhopal. It took the party till Saturday morning to determine candidates for 29 wards in the state capital. Many angry party workers sobbed uncontrollably and tore up their bio-data and threatened self-immolation at the state party office. They displayed photographs of how they courted arrest with party patriarch Atal Behari Vajpayee while agitating during the Seventies and Eighties.
In Dewas, a party worker, Bhojraj Singh Yadav, tried to set himself on fire after arguing his case with the district president and general secretary inside the district BJP office. He poured kersoene on himself but other party workers stopped him from harming himself and led him away.
There were massive protests in Indore and Bhopal, where a large number of party workers collected outside MP Pragya Thakur's residence because former corporator Keval Mishra has been denied ticket to contest this time. The workers alleged that Bhopal district president Sumeet Pachauri has fielded his cousin Neeraj Pachauri from ward 56, where he does not reside.
BJP's former OBC cell district secretary Rakesh Yadav resigned after being denied a ticket. "There is tremendous anger among party woprkers over tickets distribution. From my childhood, all I have done is to serve the party, from pasting posters to arranging chairs for meetings, I have worked for decades, but party does not consider persons like us when it comes to ticket distribution. Hence, to show them that old and original party workers are annoyed, I am resigning from the party with 100 supporters," he saud. He was seeking ticket from ward number 3 in Bairagarh under Bhopal Municipal Corporation.
BJP Mahila Morcha workers alleged that party's formula against dynastic politics has failed as Vandana Kushwaha, wife of former corporator Hemraj Kushwaha, has been fielded for ward 37 from Bhopal. In ward number 52 also, former corporator Rambabu Patidar's wife Shiela Patidar is the candidate.
With increasing rebellion in ranks, state BJP chief VD Sharma announced that he is withdrawing the candidature of Swati Kashid from ward 56 in Indore.
